Another ride on the temperature roller coaster for Montreal and southern Quebec

Salt trucks were out and about once again on Thursday morning, as yet another in a series of clipper systems brought snow and freezing rain to the Montreal region. (Valley weather Photo)

Thursday's low pressure and frontal boundary resulted in more mixed precipitation than originally expected and less rainfall, as temperatures were very slow to warm here in the St. Lawrence Valley. Out high was 3C (38F), well-below the advertised 10C. Such is often the case when a northeast wind is blowing in Montreal.

As far as precipitation goes, we managed another 3-4cm of snow early followed by a couple of hours of freezing rain and eventually rain. The liquid precipitation amounted to 7mm at Trudeau Airport. Roads were a little slippery for the morning commute, but otherwise the impacts were minimal as the storm system was rather weak.

Temperatures fell rather quickly overnight into Friday morning, as a cold front slipped south of the region. The temperature fell from 2C (36F) at 1am, down to the current reading of -7C (19F). Add to that a gusty northwest wind of  40km/h and windchills are in the middle minus teens, way too cold for late March!

In what many hope was the last snowfall of the season, Thursdays weak storm system brought 3 to 5cm of fresh snow to the Montreal region. The monthly total at Trudeau Airport stands at 33cm, with a seasonal total of 212.8cm (83.8 inches) to date from November 1st to March 26th. (Valley Weather Photo)

Our region remains of the northern edge of a large dome of high pressure that has resulted in scores of record temperatures established across the central and southern United States. Phoenix has had eight consecutive days of 100F (37C) plus temperatures. Prior to 2026, they had only had one such day in March. The heat has pushed all the way north into the Ohio Valley, but remains just south of our region.

Southern Quebec remains below normal for late March, along with weak low pressure, one after another bringing us light amounts of precipitation. The end result has been a rather cool, damp month, with 38.9mm of rain and 33cm of snow.

I wish I could say the first week of April will be different, but the trend looks the same. After a cold weekend, we can expect temperatures to be on the rise Monday into Tuesday, with more shower activity. We may see highs as warm as 15C (59F) by Monday. Unfortunately, that will be followed by another cold front, more northeast winds, flurries and a high of only 2C (36F) on Tuesday. 

There is some indication that this pattern may finally break by the second week of April, with more substantial and longer lasting warmth settling into Montreal. Time will tell, but for now the pattern remains the same, the temperature roller coaster ride nobody wants to be on.