Prepare your shovels: Montreal should receive its first flakes and at the same time its first snowfall of the fall on Tuesday, predicts Environment Canada.
Published yesterday at 5:42 p.m.
A system is likely to pass through the province on Tuesday, bringing a bout of snow throughout Quebec. Three scenarios are on the table for Montreal: an accumulation of six centimeters of snow, three centimeters, or no snow at all, if the system passes south of the province. The mercury should be around 2 degrees during the day, and 1 degree at night.
“Depending on the trajectory of the system, the snow could stay on the ground for a certain time, it would not be melting snow,” specifies Environment Canada meteorologist Dominic Martel. “There is still a lot of uncertainty at the moment, but the most likely is that Quebec will receive heavy snow,” he adds.
Normally, the first snowflakes are observed in Montreal around October 27. However, the first snowfall generally arrives later, around November 26. “We are exactly on time,” says Dominic Martel.
Towards a white Christmas?
It is likely that a spell of snow will also affect Quebec on Thursday evening, or early in the day on Friday. There is a 60% chance that the entire province will receive between 10 and 15 centimeters, according to Environment Canada. These quantities could even be exceeded in Gaspésie and in the Manicouagan sector.
With such a significant amount of snow, the possibility of a white Christmas is “pretty good,” predicts Dominic Martel. “But that remains to be seen. Towards the end of the week, temperatures will become colder, but we cannot guarantee that it will last until December 24,” he specifies.
Some regions of Quebec have already been treated to their first snowflakes, including the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve, in the Mont-Tremblant sector. We can even see white carpets in northern Quebec, and in the higher areas of Saguenay, Beauce and Gaspésie Park.
