(Montreal) Difficult weather conditions await several regions along the St. Lawrence Valley and eastern Quebec as well as the Maritimes due to the arrival Wednesday evening of a vast system forming on the American Prairies which will rage at least until Friday.
Posted at 7:16 a.m.
Environment Canada warns that as this weather system approaches, the mercury will begin to rise Wednesday over the south of the province to break above freezing and climb near mild weather records on Thursday.
Rain will fall starting Thursday morning, but will change to snow in the evening during a transition that could be accompanied by freezing rain before the mercury drops quickly.
From 10 to 20 centimeters of snow could fall overnight from Thursday to Friday in the Gatineau, Montreal, Sherbrooke and Beauce regions. Snow accumulations could be greater than 20 centimeters in the Laurentians, Trois-Rivières, Charlevoix, Quebec City, Saguenay, Haute-Mauricie, Rivière-du-Loup and Rimouski, as well as in Témiscouata and in Gaspe.
Environment Canada issues an additional rain warning for the Quebec region. In addition to a snowmelt, the region could receive up to 30 millimeters of rain on Thursday, which could cause flash flooding and patch flooding in the lowlands.
In most regions, a rise in temperatures will occur from Sunday.
The North Shore should be spared by all this bad weather, not being the subject Wednesday morning of any special weather report.
However, a sudden cooling warning is in effect for the Hautes-Laurentides and Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
All of New Brunswick as well as the Îles-de-la-Madeleine archipelago in Quebec should also be affected by the difficult conditions over the next few days, but snow accumulations should be slightly lower.
Prince Edward Island and all parts of Nova Scotia are forecast to receive between 20 and 50 millimeters of rain and winds will be gusting between 80 and 100 kilometers per hour.