A large system from Colorado will bring significant amounts of precipitation to southern Quebec on Wednesday, starting with snow followed by ice pellets, freezing rain and finally rain.
In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday or Wednesday morning, the precipitation should begin in the form of snow, warns the meteorologist at Environment Canada Guillaume Perron.
“If it starts in snow, there should be a transfer to sleet, then to freezing rain towards the end of the morning or midday,” he continues.
The amounts of freezing rain could then be significant. For the Island of Montreal and Montérégie, 10 to 15 mm are expected, while 20 mm and even 30 mm could be reached in places in the Crown and the Laurentians.
“The freezing rain, as we expect it to start at the end of the morning, the return rush hour could be complicated”, warns Guillaume Perron, inviting motorists to be careful. Power outages could also occur, especially north of Montreal, where the expected amounts of freezing rain are greatest.
Note that this system will then continue to move eastward, and the regions of Quebec, Beauce and Mauricie will be affected from Wednesday evening until the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
The Outaouais, further west, should also be quite affected. The school service centers of Portages-de-l’Outaouais and Draveurs have also announced that all their establishments will be closed this Wednesday.
sweet weather
Good news, however: the arrival of this weather system will also cause temperatures to rise. Thus, in Montreal, the temperature should rise gradually in the early evening and at night to reach a maximum around 10 ℃ the next day.
“The impacts of the freezing rain will be limited because of that, it should melt quickly,” says Guillaume Perron, of Environment Canada.
The latter also reminds us that it is not unusual to see freezing rain falling at this time of the year, which he accurately describes as “the season” for this phenomenon.
“We still have temperature drops, cold air on the ground at night, and therefore when a system comes with warm air at altitude, it can cause freezing rain,” he explains. he mentioning important episodes of the genre at the same time of year in 2018 and 2019.