A large system from Colorado will bring heavy 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 and then 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, around 10 to 15 mm are expected, while they could reach 20 mm and even 30 mm in places on the crown and in 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 the greatest.
Note that this system will then continue to move further east where the regions of Quebec, Beauce and Mauricie will be affected from tomorrow evening until the night of Wednesday to Thursday.
The Outaouais, further west, should also be quite affected. The Portages-de-l’Outaouais School Service Center and Draveurs School Service Center have also announced that all their establishments will be closed on Wednesday.
sweet weather
Good news, however: the arrival of this weather system will also lead to an increase in temperatures. Thus, in Montreal, the temperature should rise gradually at the beginning of the evening and at night to reach the next day maximums around 10 degrees.
“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.