” What do you want to do ? The weather is really bad today. Not just for me. For everyone ! »
Giovanni Bonadonna, owner of Coiffure Montallegro, rue Hutchison, opposite the Parc metro station, watched the snowstorm through the window of his salon, where customers were rare, if not non-existent. “We can’t do anything with the temperature,” he observed philosophically. You can change hair color, you can change everything, but not the temperature. That’s life ! We’re not in Cuba! »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Giovanni Bonadonna, owner of Coiffure Montallegro
A little further away, rue Jean-Talon, Prabhjot Kaur was taking orders behind the counter of the McDonald’s restaurant, which was always full. Customers, deprived of electricity by the numerous outages, waited at tables in front of an empty café, their heads bent over their phones.
“We have a lot of orders for delivery. More than usual,” said Prabhjot Kaur.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Prabhjot Kaur takes orders at McDonald’s, at the corner of Hutchison and Jean-Talon streets.
Crossed in the entrance, Anis Titi was just coming to pick up an order, his red bag under his arm. “DoorDash, Skip, Uber Eats… When it’s like that, there’s always a lot of work, a lot of pressure,” explained the driver, whose phone was ringing constantly: “A new order! »
Outside, the snow continued to fall and the winds blew strong, gusting between 60 and 70 km/h.
Environment Canada predicted 15 to 20 cm, but it ultimately fell around 25. It was the biggest storm of the winter after that of December 3, which left 35 cm on the ground in Montreal.
School holidays and power outages
Nearly 30,000 homes were still without electricity at the end of the afternoon in Montreal and Laval, out of a total of 140,000 in Quebec.
Around 600,000 customers were affected “at different times” of the day, said Maryse Dalpé, senior director of the distribution network at Hydro-Québec, at a press conference.
Poles and branches fell under the weight of the snow, causing electrical wires to break.
This snow also led to the closure of many schools, notably in Montreal, Montérégie, Laval, Outaouais, the Laurentians and Lanaudière.
Several collisions and road exits have been recorded by the Sûreté du Québec, including at least one causing serious injury, in Sainte-Sabine, in Estrie.
On the Urgences-santé side, we also noted a high number of calls.
“We had falls, but we did not record a greater volume of falls than usual,” underlined the spokesperson, Jean-Pierre Rouleau. It’s definitely an increase in overall call volume, of all kinds. »
Eleven degrees Sunday
Good news: this broadside should melt away Friday and Saturday, in Montreal and the surrounding area. Sunday will see the return of the sun with 10°C.
The City of Montreal indicated that it was not going to launch a snow loading operation, but rather let it disappear on its own. At the same time, she announced the suspension of seasonal parking bans for Thursday.
“It’s not abnormal to have snow in April,” said Michèle Fleury, meteorologist at Environment Canada. “But it’s still a big broadside. We will approach record values in terms of snowfall for a day. »
The normal snowfall for Montreal for the entire month is 13 cm. We’ve already passed it.
Michèle Fleury, meteorologist at Environment Canada
At 5 p.m. on Thursday, Environment Canada recorded 23 cm of snow at the Montreal-Trudeau airport. An additional 2 to 5 cm was expected, “but only in places where there is already snow,” said meteorologist Jean-Philippe Bégin. “On even the slightest dark surfaces, it melts gradually. »
The snow record for a day in April dates from April 9, 2000. For those who remember, 34 cm of snow fell that day.
“Not a bad finish”
Other good news: temperatures should rise above seasonal norms from Sunday.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
The snow led to the closure of schools in Montreal, Montérégie, Laval, Outaouais, the Laurentians and Lanaudière.
” Tomorrow [vendredi], it won’t be very beautiful because we will still be under the influence of this low pressure system, but the snow will turn into rain. It remains cloudy again on Saturday, but temperatures are starting to slowly rise. Then, the good weather will return on Sunday,” explained Michèle Fleury.
And for those wondering what the weather will be like on Monday, the day of the eclipse, “for the moment, it looks sunny,” said the meteorologist.
“Then the long-term forecast shows us temperatures, in general, above seasonal norms for next week, and perhaps the following weeks. So, for Montreal and the south of the province, the snow will be pretty much over. This is really the last blow to be given. »
With the collaboration of Isabelle Ducas, The Press