Another wet summer weekend for Montreal

The weather has been highly changeable in Montreal this June, with frequent showers and thunderstorms, and impressive quantities of rainfall, including a record-setting 53.4mm falling in less than 24 hours on June 23. Another round of showers and thunderstorms is expected this weekend. (Valley Weather Photo)

Special Weather Statement issued by Environment Canada for southern Quebec, for heavy rainfall this weekend.

Our wet June continues, with another showery, humid weekend in the forecast for southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. Sadly it will be the third in a row. A fast moving west to east zonal flow has been responsible for the rapidly changing weather this month. We remain on the northern periphery of a large heat dome located across the southern and eastern United States that has been responsible for our brief but significant hot and humid stretches this month.

Montreal has had a real mixed bag of weather, with 7 days above 30C (86F) and over 122mm of rain to date. The normal is only 83.6mm. We will add to that rain total this Canada Day weekend, as a potent weather system moves across the region, bring periods of heavy showers and embedded thunderstorms, especially late Saturday into Sunday. Precipitation amounts are expected in the 20-40mm range, but may exceed 50mm in the most persistent thunderstorms. While this will bring our rainfall up to impressive levels for June, it is far from the record of  219mm set way back in 1922.

What the rain and muggy weather has accomplished other than disrupting outdoor activities, is it has lowered the fire risk across Quebec. To date according to SOPFEU, we have had 197 wildfires, well-below the 10 year average of 289.

As far as temperatures go, we had a very chilly morning Friday behind Thursday's windy cold front. The low here on Ile Perrot was only 8C (47F). The temperature will recover under the warm June sun to around 24C (75F) Friday. Expect muggy daytime highs around 25C (77F) bot Saturday and Sunday. Any sunshine both days will help increase temperatures as well as instability and lead to more active thunderstorms. The weather should improve for Canada Day Monday in Montreal, with a high of 25C (77F). Warm and humid weather will return by the middle of next week.