Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The winter that won't end

Wind and snow attacked this tree in the Toronto area overnight.
(Via twitter @vaughanweather)
SNOWFALL WARNING: Metro Montreal
Radar this morning is showing decent precipitation moving north into southern Quebec from twin low pressure areas. We have most locations reporting a mix of rain to snow with pockets of heavy wet snow. The strongest returns and heaviest precipitation at this time is falling over St. Lawrence County, NY moving north into eastern Ontario. This will be affecting the 416 corridor over the next several hours with heavy wet snow north into Ottawa. Montreal can expect light precipitation to begin shortly with rain at the onset switching over to snow. Temperatures will be near the 0C mark for the next 24 hours making this a difficult forecast. A spattering of warnings are in effect including a snowfall warning for metro Montreal. Amounts will be widely variable and range from 5cm up to 20cm (2-8 inches) depending on location and elevation. Winds will be a factor gusting up to 60km/h out of the northeast.

Overnight snow and rain has caused travel issues across southern Ontario and in the GTA. There are numerous accidents as well gusty winds have brought down some trees and power lines. The travel delays are not reserved to the road with VIA Rail reporting 20 minute delays or more in the Montreal to Toronto corridor as well as 20 percent of the flights cancelled or delayed at Pearson Airport.

Radar at 7:15 am showing two main zones of precipitation from the two storms, with a dry slot between. A very difficult call for snow totals.
Low pressure areas will slowly move north today, one over Ohio, the second off the mid-Atlantic coast. Look for precipitation all day into the overnight for southern Quebec. Most time it will be light but there will be heavier bands within the system.

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