Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Colder weather on the way

Storm damage north of Atlanta late yesterday. CNN.com

A very slow moving cold front is pressing across Ontario and New York this morning and should pass through Montreal by this evening. Very heavy rain is falling along the front and will continue in Montreal most of the day before changing to a period of wet snow after midnight and then tapering off by morning. Nearly 20mm of rain has fallen in the city with an additional 25-50mm possible today followed by 2-4cm of snow, especially north of the city. Winds are increasing as well and will continue to do so out of the southwest from 50-70km/h. The temperature is very mild this morning near 10C, but it will begin to fall by afternoon and drop below freezing overnight. It is already near freezing west of Toronto with wet snow this morning.

Last evening an American Airlines Boeing 737 from Dallas to Montreal slid off the runway at Trudeau Airport. Nobody was injured in the 8pm accident, and the cause is yet to be determined, but it was breezy and raining steadily at the time.

The rain is part of a large storm system that has been producing late season severe weather across the southern US. Several tornadoes were reported yesterday including one in the northwest suburbs of Atlanta. This morning tornado watches are in effect from Georgia to Delaware. Further north flood watches and warnings are in effect with 2-4 inches of rain expected. As the storm swings east cold air is pouring into the region with lake effect snow expected to start up late today south of Buffalo and Watertown across the Tug Hill. Over 1 foot of fresh snow could fall by late Thursday affecting travel on I-90 and I-81.

Low pressure is expected to stall east of the region for the next few days with cloudy, cool weather forecast and an increasing change of snow here in southern Quebec.

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