More than 110,000 Quebec homes were plunged into darkness from the start of the day Monday, after the first big snowfall of the season which left up to 30 centimeters on the ground in several regions of the south of the province.
“Last night’s precipitation, which is currently continuing, caused several outages, mainly in Estrie, Montérégie and Greater Montreal. […] Our teams are at work, and we are currently mobilizing resources to the hardest hit regions,” Hydro-Québec said early this morning.
In southern Quebec, the snow that fell was heavy, putting stress on vegetation and electrical wires. Around 9:30 a.m., more than 111,000 Hydro-Québec subscribers were without electricity, including more than 50,000 in Montérégie, more than 34,000 in Estrie and more than 17,000 on the island of Montreal. In total, around 455 outages were in progress in Quebec.
At the Sûreté du Québec, they say that no major accident occurred. However, several road trips occurred, particularly in the greater Montreal area, as is often the case during major snowfalls. The roads remained slippery in several areas.
On the road network, most of the major highways in southern and central Quebec were snow-covered or partially cleared Monday morning, according to Transports Quebec. In general, visibility was good, but it was reduced in some places, particularly on some secondary roads.
South first
According to Environment Canada, southern Quebec received the most snow. Between 20 and 30 centimeters of snow fell in several regions, notably in Montreal. The federal agency also forecasts that snow will continue to fall throughout the day Monday, until partial clearing in the evening, with light snow which will gradually disappear.
In Mauricie, Environment Canada predicted the fall of around fifteen centimeters of snow compared to around ten centimeters in the Quebec region and around fifteen in Beauce. Authorities also warned that wind gusts of between 50 and 70 kilometers per hour could occur along the St. Lawrence Valley.
“The rapid accumulation of snow will make travel difficult. There could be significant impacts on rush hour traffic in urban areas. Heavy snow accumulation could break tree branches,” Environment Canada warned in a special bulletin.
“For a first big snowfall of the winter, it’s quite early in December, but it’s not extraordinary either,” explains Simon Legault, meteorologist for Environment Canada, in an interview with The Press. According to him, the “contrast” is especially important with the last few days in several regions “which did not yet have a white carpet and snow on the ground”.
White Christmas or not?
At this stage, however, it is still unknown whether this snow will remain on the ground by Christmas, especially since next weekend, a weather system “should bring us milder temperatures and rain”, warned Mr. Legault.
“It might not be enough to melt everything. Time will tell, but we still have time to have more broadsides before Christmas. I would say that we are in a very good position to have a white Christmas, even if conditions could still deteriorate between now and then,” he maintains.
One thing is certain: almost everywhere in the Montreal region, the impacts were palpable on Monday. At Montreal-Trudeau airport, for example, dozens of flights were already delayed at the start of the day due to snow having accumulated on the runways.
Between Brossard and the city center, the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) also broke down for a few tens of minutes, to the great dismay of users.
During Sunday evening and Monday night, snow fell at a rate of 2 to 3 centimeters per hour in southwestern Quebec. Tuesday through Thursday will see partly sunny conditions, but temperatures will be colder.
With The Canadian Press