Wild Victoria Day weather across the country

Strong winds, rain and snow have made for a miserable holiday weekend in Manitoba. (CTV NEWS Manitoba)

May is often one of the most active weather months of the year as what is left of the winter cold in the Northern Hemisphere battles it out with the advancing warm and humid weather from the deep south. This weekend is a perfect example of that battle and the weather is distributes over North America as the atmosphere tries to balance itself. While southern Quebec is enjoying a peaceful, sun filled long holiday weekend with warm highs over 27C (80F) other portions of the country are not so lucky with wind, frost and even snow.

A strong low pressure area has been splitting the country in half as it moves from Colorado towards James Bay. To the west strong winds and heavy rain and wet snow have been reported from eastern Saskatchewan into northwest Ontario. Winnipeg is reporting snow this morning and a temperature of -1C (30F). Widespread frost was reported in Saskatchewan. Winds have been very strong across Manitoba, in excess of 80km/h with numerous reports of trees and power lines down. The same storm has a cold front trailing from it that will eventually cut through Montreal and the St. Lawrence Valley over the next 36 hours. That front produced lots of severe weather from Texas to the Dakotas on Saturday and again Sunday. Numerous tornadoes and large hail were reported with widespread damage. More strong thunderstorms  are forecast from the Great Lakes to the Midwest today.

A spectacular shot of a tornado near Elmer, Oklahoma on Saturday. Storm chasers caught the storm as it came dangerously close to a field of cows. No injuries were reported despite major damage in Oklahoma. (TVN Weather.com)

THUNDERSTORMS & COOLER
Montreal will remain between the Colorado low and a cool marine air mass just to our east on this Victoria Day Monday. We can expect a sunny and warm day with temperatures as warm as 30C (86F) in the southwest St. Lawrence Valley. Highs will be much cooler as you head east and southeast. Tonight the first of two cold fronts will produce showers and thunderstorms with a mild, humid low around 18C (65F). On Tuesday more showers and thunderstorms are forecast as a second cold front moves across Ontario and Quebec. The high Tuesday will be 24C (76F). The balance of the week will see clearing skies but much cooler with daytime highs below normal, only near 17C (63F). Temperatures will begin to warm once again by next weekend.