Thursday, March 10, 2011

Snow to rain

We are a cranky city with another difficult morning commute underway.

8:30 AM Update: Snow mixed with freezing rain continues to move from west to east across the city this morning. The temperature is at 0C.

I have not ventured outside yet but it looks very wintry this morning on Ile Perrot. Steady wet snow has been falling all night with visibility as low as 2km at times. Radar is showing more snow to our west working its way across the metro region through at least the morning commute. Afterwards the precipitation becomes more spotty through the midday before another surge of moisture later today moves in from the south. Montreal had close to 10cm overnight with another 5cm over the next few hours before it changes over to drizzle. Ottawa has gone over to freezing drizzle while Toronto is 4C with rain. Winds are out of the southeast at 30-50km/h and will continue that way throughout the day.

Temperatures will rise through the day to 4C with snow changing to rain. The system is a very slow moving front with moisture streaming north from the southern US. With the abundant moisture available nearly 40mm of rain could fall across southern Quebec and New England in the next 24 hours once it changes from snow. This has prompted Rainfall Warnings for Montreal. Concern is on the rise for flooding across the region. At the very least there will be lots of water accumulation around. Flooding is already occurring in spots across New York and Vermont and south into New Jersey as well as Ohio.

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