(Montreal) Certain areas of the northern St. Lawrence Valley are the subject of an extreme cold warning issued Friday morning by Environment Canada.
Posted at 6:33 a.m.
Maximum daytime temperatures of between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius below zero are predicted for the day. The federal agency adds that wind chill readings of between -41 and -45 are forecast for next night.
Shortly before dawn, temperatures had begun to drop in western regions, the first to be enveloped in cold weather. For example, the mercury was 31 degrees below zero in Val-d’Or.
The regions targeted at the start of the day by the extreme cold warning were those of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the Laurentians, Haute-Mauricie, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Charlevoix.
Environment Canada warns, however, that temperatures in Quebec regions located further south will also drop. For example, on Saturday, the maximum forecast will be 17 degrees below zero in Montreal and Gatineau, minus 18 in Trois-Rivières and Quebec, minus 19 in Rivière-du-Loup, minus 20 in Saint-Georges and minus 21 in Sherbrooke.
The cold weather will persist on Sunday.
In addition, certain sectors of the far east of Quebec will experience a winter storm starting this Friday. From 30 to 40 centimeters of snow are expected in the Magdalen Islands. On the Lower North Shore, up to 50 centimeters could fall to the ground, the winds will blow at nearly 90 kilometers per hour.