(Montreal) The first real snowstorm to hit southern Quebec at the end of the year ultimately left more than 30 centimeters in certain areas, particularly on the island of Montreal, between Sunday and Monday.
Posted at 6:39 am
Heavy rainfall from snow and relatively mild weather tested vegetation and the power transmission network, leading to numerous power outages.
Just after 6 a.m. Tuesday, more than 28,000 Hydro-Québec subscribers were still without power. As was the case the day before, the regions most affected were Montérégie, with about 15,400 victims, and Estrie, with 10,600 customers in the dark, including about 1,600 Hydro-Sherbrooke subscribers.
At the peak of the outages, on Monday morning, more than 110,000 Quebec residents, mostly in those two regions, were without power in their homes.
Hydro-Québec forecast Monday that the vast majority of customers still without power should have power back by midday Tuesday. More than 200 Hydro-Québec teams were on site Monday evening.
Partly sunny but colder weather conditions were expected Tuesday through Thursday, according to Environment Canada.
However, the federal agency’s longer-term forecasts point to the arrival of warmer weather. In Montreal, for example, temperatures will exceed freezing day and night from Saturday to Monday and it will rain.
For its part, the city of Montreal announced that snow loading by road workers would begin early Tuesday morning in the various districts.