Thunderstorms, snowstorms & tropical storms

Thunderstorms develop over L'Ile Perrot on Saturday, May 9, in the first warm and humid air of the season. 
(ValleyWX Photo)

Update: Monday, May 11 : Cooler weather with much needed rainfall is occurring over southern Quebec this morning. As a result the open fire burn ban has been lifted for now. The temperature has dropped from 26C Sunday around noon to 8C this morning. What a difference a day makes. The previous blog entry is below.

We had a very active weather day across North America Sunday as a strong spring storm moved across the central plains of the US. To the east, warm and humid air fired up thunderstorms from Texas to the Great Lakes, Ontario and southern Quebec. A dangerous outbreak of severe weather with many tornadoes is occurring from Texas into parts of Iowa and South Dakota. Meanwhile to the west, heavy wet snow (over 1 foot) and strong winds with blizzard conditions affected the western Dakotas. Travel was not advised in western South Dakota on Sunday.

Montreal remains on the northern edge of the warm and humid air. We managed to reach 28C (83F) on Saturday before scattered thunderstorms swept the region. As is the fickle nature of thunderstorms, I measured only 0.4mm of rain Saturday on L'Ile Perrot, while Trudeau Airport had 9.8mm. Some areas of the city and Laval has even more as the storms were much stronger in those locations. More storms were expected Sunday as a frontal system sags south into southern Quebec. Sunday was the last really warm day for a week or so as we hit 25C (77F). Cooler air and rain moved in overnight with a raw, chilly and rainy Monday expected with highs only near 10C (50F). On Tuesday more showers and thunderstorms are forecast along a warm front with a high of 23C (73F). Things should clear out by Wednesday.

MAY? A South Dakota DOT camera shows the heavy snow and strong winds over the western Dakotas this morning. Travel is not advised in heavy snow and 50mph winds.

The warmth this week was very sudden and confined mostly to eastern Ontario and southern Quebec as we had some of the warmest temperatures in Canada. On Friday, Montreal recorded a record high of  28.8C (the previous record was 28.7 in 2013), Sherbrooke 28.4C (27.2 in 2007), and St Anicet a scorching 31.2C (29.8 in 2013).

As if all this weather was not enough, an early season tropical storm developed off the South Carolina coast this week and moved into Myrtle Beach early Sunday morning. Tropical storm Ana has 60mph winds as well as 2-4 inches of rainfall to the east of her track. Heavy surf is pounding the North and South Carolina coast this morning as the storm slowly weakens and drifts inland today.