Heavy wet snow results in widespread power outages across Southern Quebec

Hydro-Quebec is dealing with a significant number of outages on Tuesday morning as a result of heavy wet snow. Over 377,000 customers are without power across the province, the majority here in the southwest corner. Montreal alone is reporting over 41,000 in the dark. (Hydro-Quebec)

Between 10-20cm of snow fell across the Island of Montreal in under 6 hours.

As of 7AM Tuesday, 375,00 Hydro-Quebec customers have no power.

Roads are snow covered, icy and dangerous - some school are closed for the day.

The upper level low responsible for our winter-like weather on Sunday, spawned a weak surface low over Vermont that moved north late Monday, providing enough lift to produce heavy wet snow across the extreme southwestern corner of Quebec. In under 6 hours, over 10cm of heavy wet snow fell, weighing down trees, many which still have leaves on them, onto power lines.

A narrow band of heavy wet snow developed on the backside of this past weekends storm, dumping a quick 10-20cm of heavy wet snow from Plattsburgh and Burlington north into Montreal. The snow caught many by surprise resulting in scores of accidents during the Monday evening commute. (Valley Weather)

The result has been widespread power outages, with Hydro-Quebec reporting over 1000 individual breaks in the system, with 377,620 customers without power as of 7am Tuesday morning. That includes 41,820 on the Island of Montreal and 19,496 in Laval. The utility has responded with crews, but strong winds and continued snowfall are slowing down the recovery operation.

In Montreal, the snow resulted in very dangerous travel conditions, with a rash of accidents reported during the evening hours. Travel remains very poor Tuesday morning, with many roads snow covered, with hard packed snow and ice on many secondary roads. Travel with great caution and remain off the roads if you do not have winter tires on.

The same system continues to push waves of light snow across Southern Quebec Tuesday morning, with another 2 to 4cm possible today. Winds will be gusty from the northwest at 30-50km/h, and temperatures will remain cold for Remembrance Day, around -2C (29F). If you have plans to attend a service, dress warmly.