The month of January will definitely not have been easy, weather-wise. Extreme cold and smog warnings were issued Saturday for Montreal and several other regions in southern and central Quebec.
It is currently -25 degrees Celsius in Montreal, a felt temperature that drops to -33 degrees Celsius when taking into account the wind chill. Saturday morning, Environment Canada even foresees a perceived temperature that could drop to -40 degrees in certain sectors of the Montreal region, but also in the regions of Quebec and Trois-Rivières, in particular.
“Cover up. Frostbite can develop within minutes on skin exposed to wind chill,” the federal agency said in a recently posted “extreme cold” warning. It is also recalled that this type of warning is issued “when wind chill or very cold temperatures present a high danger to health”, including the risk of hypothermia.
A little over ten days ago, a 74-year-old homeless man was found frozen to death under an overpass in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district, where he had erected a tent. Then, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, a homeless woman in her sixties was found dead near an entrance to the Berri-UQAM metro station. However, it is not known at this stage whether the biting cold would have contributed to his death.
Last weekend, a cold spell also culminated in a snowstorm, which disrupted the face-to-face start of the school year which was to take place Monday throughout Quebec.
Smog warning
Several regions of Quebec, including Montreal, are also subject to a smog warning this Saturday. “Elevated concentrations of pollutants will persist this morning,” the notice states, noting that “smog primarily affects children with asthma and people with respiratory or heart disease.” Environment Canada therefore recommends that these people avoid “intense physical activity outdoors” until this warning is lifted.
In Quebec, wood heating is the main source of fine particle emissions that cause smog in winter, ahead of automobile traffic and industrial activity. In Montreal, however, the use of wood stoves has been very limited for several years due to a strict regulatory framework. It is also completely forbidden to use your wood-burning fireplace in the metropolis during smog warnings, under penalty of receiving a fine.