Active weather week ahead - more snow for Montreal

The last remains of yesterday's cloud cover and snow slip south of Montreal early this morning, leaving behind bright sunshine. The temperature fell quickly after skies cleared, along with strong northwest winds and blowing snow. (Valley Weather Photo)

More snow is forecast this week, as an active and unsettled weather pattern remains in place. On Sunday, rather weak low pressure managed to produce 10 to 20cm of fresh snow across portions of eastern Ontario and southern Quebec. In Montreal, 13.2cm of snow fell, bringing the seasonal total to 167cm. This amount already represents 80 percent of the normal snowfall for the entire season (209.5cm). The city of Montreal will start removing the snow from borough streets tonight, the sixth cleanup this season. The municipality had budgeted for five. We still have the thick of the snowfall season to go, as most of Montreal's historically big snowstorms have occurred in February and especially March.

We will start adding to this total as early as Wednesday. A developing storm system will move along the edge of our current arctic airmass, passing across Pennsylvania and extreme southern New England. A broad area of snow will occur north and west of the storm track from southern New England into Southern Quebec by Wednesday afternoon. Montreal will likely remain on the northern edge of this storm, with 10 to 15cm likely for the city. As you head south and east, amounts will increase to between 15 and 25cm from the Eastern Townships into northern Vermont and New York. A winter storm watch has been posted for a wide swath of New England and the Northeast US. Weather warnings may be required for a portion of southern Quebec as well.

The temperature will be cold with the storm, likely remaining in the -10C (14F) range on Wednesday across southern Quebec.  Expect the steadiest snow in Montreal between noon and midnight. Skies should slowly clear by Thursday morning. By the weekend, another area of low pressure will bring more snow to Ontario and Quebec. This system bears watching at this time.