Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Winter storm to impact Ontario & Quebec

This is the current snowfall forecast map from Accu Weather for the entire region. Montreal will be right on the dividing line between rain and snow with the metro region cut in half. Northwest of the city 25cm, southeast of the city less than 10cm.
The much anticipated first winter storm of the season is upon here in Montreal this morning. Winter storm warnings have been posted across a wide area from eastern Ontario, Kingston to Ottawa and east into metro Montreal and towards Quebec City. Low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico will race northeast towards New Jersey on Wednesday, and then across New Hampshire into Thursday morning. This places the St. Lawrence Valley in the sweet spot for snow with freezing rain and rain mixed in from Montreal eastward. Accumulations will be very dependent on the temperature in your backyard, but best estimated are for 10-20cm in Montreal with 20-30cm from Lachute across the Ottawa Valley, Kemptville and into Brockville. This is a good size storm at any time of the year, but especially for the first one, so the Wednesday commute should be interesting in Montreal.

Snow will start late this evening and mix with rain tomorrow morning in Montreal. It then goes back to a steady snow late Wednesday with strong winds developing and dropping temperatures. Thursday looks windy with some blowing snow and colder. Temperatures will be either side of 0C for the next 24 hours in Montreal before dropping off late Wednesday to overnight lows of -6C. There will be lots of ice around and roads will be snow covered so plan your travel accordingly.

The same forecast holds true for New York and Vermont with the rain/snow line setting up across the Champlain Valley. Warnings are in place for those regions as well with the busy Thanksgiving travel period starting tomorrow.

No comments: