Record-breaking warm Halloween for Montreal

This certainly is a most sincere pumpkin patch. Perhaps this and the record-breaking warmth forecast in Montreal for Halloween will allow us to finally meet The Great Pumpkin!

Warm and windy Halloween forecast for Trick or Treating in Montreal.

It is hard to believe that Halloween is upon us and equally hard to believe we are going to have temperatures in the middle 20s. A warm front lifted northeast across the St. Lawrence Valley late on Tuesday, ushering in warm southwest winds. Temperatures have soared in Montreal on Wednesday, reaching 23C (73F) on Ile Perrot as I write. That is 14 degrees above normal. It is currently 22.5 C (72F) at Trudeau Airport, breaking the record for today's date of 21.3C set in 2012.

On Thursday, we will break the record high of 21.7C (71F) that was established way back on Halloween in 1956. The forecast high is 23C (73F), but it may be even warmer, depending on cloud cover. This occurring in the same week when we had our coldest morning so far this season, -6C on Monday morning. Many locations even had some snow on the ground late Monday across eastern Ontario and northern New England. It truly is a roller coaster ride this season.

Cold temperatures and gusty winds early this week allowed the leaves to fall in bunches on Ile Perrot and across the Montreal region. Another round of strong winds is expected Thursday and Friday, first from the southwest up to 50km/h, backing to the northwest on Friday, 20-40km/h. That should pull down many of the remaining leaves from the trees across Southern Quebec.

The warm front produced about 8mm of rain in the Montréal region Tuesday, while across the Ottawa Valley, some surprise pop up thunderstorms produced heavy rain and hundreds of lightning strikes.

Partly cloudy skies and very warm temperatures are expected on Thursday, ahead of a cold front. Gusty southwest winds will reach speeds of 30-50km/h, likely blowing what is left of the leaves off the trees. The weather should remain dry for Trick or Treaters, with showers moving in towards the end of the evening as a cold front arrives from Ontario.

That front will drop temperatures sharply all day Friday to lows of -1C (30F) by Saturday morning. The weekend should be fair, but chilly, especially in relation to our current weather. Expect daytime high temperatures between 6C-10C (43F-50F).

No major cold spells or snow is in our future at this time.