All of southern Quebec woke up on Friday the 13th to a thick blanket of snow, which complicated conditions in certain regions and forced the closure of several schools, particularly in the eastern part of the province.
Posted at 8:04 AM, updated at 8:42 AM
At 5:56 a.m. Environment Canada issued a winter storm warning with additional accumulations of two to six inches expected through Friday evening in the Greater Montreal-Laval region and several regions of Quebec, both north and south of the St. Lawrence River .
“So far, Montreal has received 4 inches, Quebec has received 4.7 inches, and Gatineau has received 6 inches,” notes Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault. It will continue to snow through tonight and the winds are in place. But the storm will not be as strong as December 23rd. It’s all over in the Saint Lawrence Valley tonight and the weather is going to be nice this weekend. »
At the time of Mr Legault’s interview, around 7:45 a.m. on Friday, he was noticing a drizzle in Sherbrooke. There could be freezing rain in this area, he remarked. On the other hand, Montreal and the metropolitan area should generally avoid freezing rain.
Closed CSS
Many School Service Centers (CSS) facilities in eastern Quebec are closed. This is the case for CSS de l’Estuaire (Baie-Comeau), Portneuf, Découvreurs (Québec), de la Capitale, de Sherbrooke, des Appalaches, Monts-et-Marées (Matane region), Eastern Townships, des Navigateurs ( Lévis ), Beauce-Etchemin, Des Sommets (Magog), Premieres-Seigneuries, Des Samares (Lanaudière), Des Hauts-Cantons (Coaticook region) and many others.
Day care centers are open in some facilities, while others are closed. It’s better to check before going there.
Bad luck for students attending Montreal School Service Center (CSSDM) facilities, everything is up in the air!
“Students and staff are expected at the school or their center as usual,” the organization’s website reads.
Road conditions vary from region to region. In the Lanaudière region, for example, several roads are partially or completely snow-covered and visibility is restricted in some places.
In Mauricie – Centre-du-Québec, highways 40 and 55 and all side roads are covered with snow. A portion of Highway 40 near Quebec is snow covered with limited visibility. Same situation on Highway 20.
The Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal has no reports of anything major on the streets at this time. No major events were reported from the Montreal area on the Sûreté du Québec. On the other hand, two exits of heavy trucks are reported on the freeways 10 and 20, says Sergeant Andrey-Anne Bilodeau.
“A 16-meter (53-foot) truck carrying wood chips went off the road on 10 in the Eastman area and headed west,” she said. Traffic will be disrupted in one of the two lanes and the situation will continue for a few more hours. »
A tanker truck of the same size also went off the road on Highway 20 westbound at Saint-Cyrille-de-Wendover. But in his case, the circulation is not impeded for the time being.