While nearly a million Quebecers were without electricity due to the ice storm on Wednesday, the weather forecast for April gave rise to hopes that it was the last storm of the winter.
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Around 7 p.m., more than 810,000 Hydro-Québec customers were plunged into darkness, for a total of more than 1,560 outages and approximately 18% of subscribers affected across the province.
Outaouais, Montreal, Montérégie and the Laurentians were particularly affected, while Quebec and the east were spared outages related to freezing rain.
Hydro-Québec quickly reminded citizens not to approach the wires on the ground.
The breakdowns were caused by the fall of branches or trees under the weight of the ice.
- Listen to the interview with Caroline Desrosiers, spokesperson for Hydro-Québec on the Mario Dumont show broadcast live via QUB-radio :
All available teams are mobilized, repeated the state company, but it is too early to establish the average time to restore service.
According to Environment Canada, this black day is possibly a bad 24 hours to pass before the return of true spring.
Rare
“It’s rare to have so much ice. The air mass that caused the ice storm is unstable and the precipitation has been heavy. In 2019, we had a roughly comparable system, ”explains meteorologist André Cantin.
Swept by the gusts, the City of Quebec notably announced the monitoring of waterways, as well as the installation of a temporary emergency site in the event of an overflow in the shelters that welcome homeless people. .
Photo Stevens LeBlanc
Snow plows were at work at the exit of the bridges, in Quebec.
If it may take several days to repair the damage, Mother Nature should give the teams a break since the mercury could exceed 10°C on Thursday, both in Montreal and in Quebec.
In April, you should not be surprised to go through the four seasons in a very short time.
“The temperatures will rise to allow the melting of this ice. We came back in winter, we are back to spring conditions and then we fall back below normal,” added Mr. Cantin.
- Listen to the interview with Gilles Paillé, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility of Quebec on Mario Dumont’s show broadcast live via QUB-radio :
sweet weather
With a bit of luck, the rising thermometer will even reach 20°C for the first time next week in the metropolis.
The risk of flooding is not ruled out, but rainfall will be light. “Fortunately, there will be no rain,” he said.
As far as it is possible to see, no other storm is looming on the horizon. La Beauce had nevertheless experienced a white carpet on the morning of May 12, 2020.
“You can never swear it’s the last, but I don’t see any system in the next two weeks. It becomes less and less likely at the end of April. At 80-90%, it’s the last”, specifies the specialist.
An “easy” winter
Apart from downtown Montreal, the rest of Quebec still has good snow cover on the ground.
With the exception of a polar weekend at the beginning of February, winter 2022-2023 is far from having broken cold records.
Overall, average temperatures were above normal, according to Environment Canada data. “It was a fairly easy winter in Quebec in general,” concludes Mr. Cantin.