All of southern Quebec woke up on Friday the 13th to a good layer of snow, which made conditions difficult in certain regions and forced the closure of several schools, particularly in the eastern part of the province.
At 5:56 a.m., Environment Canada issued a winter storm warning with additional accumulations of 5 to 15 centimeters expected by Friday evening in the Greater Montreal – Laval region and several regions of Quebec, both north and south of the Saint- Lawrence.
“So far, Montreal has received 10 centimeters, Quebec 11 centimeters and Gatineau 15 centimeters,” notes Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault. It will continue to snow until tonight and the winds are present. But the storm will not be of the magnitude of that of December 23. Everything will be over tonight in the St. Lawrence Valley and the weather will be nice this weekend. »
At the time of the interview with Mr. Legault, around 7:45 a.m. Friday, he noted drizzle in Sherbrooke. There could be freezing rain in that area, he noted. On the other hand, Montreal and the metropolitan area should in principle avoid freezing rain.
Closed CSS
The establishments of many school service centers (CSS) are closed in eastern Quebec. This is the case for the CSS de l’Estuaire (Baie-Comeau), Portneuf, Découvreurs (Québec), de la Capitale, de Sherbrooke, des Appalaches, Monts-et-Marées (Matane region), Eastern Townships, des Navigateurs (Lévis), Beauce-Etchemin, des Sommets (Magog), Premieres-Seigneuries, des Samares (Lanaudière), des Hauts-Cantons (Coaticook region) and many others.
In some centres, daycare services are open, but others are closed. It is better to check before going there.
Bad luck for students who attend establishments of the Montreal School Service Center (CSSDM), everything is open!
“Students and staff are expected at school or at their center as usual,” the organization says on its website.
Road conditions vary from region to region. Thus, in the Lanaudière region, several roads are partially or entirely snow-covered and visibility is reduced in certain places.
In Mauricie – Centre-du-Québec, highways 40 and 55 as well as all secondary roads are covered in snow. Part of Highway 40 near Quebec is snow covered with reduced visibility. Same situation on Highway 20.
At the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal, there are currently no reports of anything major on the roads. At the Sûreté du Québec, nothing major has been reported in the Montreal area. On the other hand, two exits of heavy trucks are reported on highways 10 and 20, indicates Sergeant Andrey-Anne Bilodeau.
“A 16-meter (53-foot) truck with wood chips went off the road on the 10 in the Eastman area, heading west,” she said. Traffic is cut off on one of the two lanes and the situation will continue for a few hours. »
On Highway 20, westbound, near Saint-Cyrille-de-Wendover, a tanker truck of the same size also went off the road. But in his case, circulation is not impeded for the moment.