Twice as much snow fell as normal in January

In January alone, some cities such as Trois-Rivières, Gatineau or Montreal received almost double the precipitation that usually falls.

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The city of Trois-Rivières received the most total snowfall (approximately 106 centimeters) during the month of January, followed closely by the Gatineau-Ottawa region (approximately 91 cm).

The Montreal region is in third place on the podium with 89.4 cm of snow, while the normal is 49.5 cm. “It’s not double, but we’re not far,” said André Cantin, meteorologist at Environment Canada, pointing out that an extra centimeter or two could be added on Tuesday.

Two broadsides are mainly responsible for all this snow. Let us remember in particular the first storm of the year, on Friday January 13, during which more than 20 cm of snow accumulated almost everywhere in Quebec, and between 20 and 25 cm in Montreal alone. Finally, the biggest storm since the start of the season is that of January 25, which left between 25 and 35 cm of snow in mainland France alone.

In terms of temperatures, they were particularly mild and slightly above normal for the season. In Montreal, the average as of Sunday was -4°C while the normal is -9°C.

“We had no record in January, but we can qualify it as very snowy and very mild,” said the meteorologist.

According to Mr. Cantin, temperatures will be closer to seasonal norms in February. “February will be colder than what we experienced in January. Generally with fairly frequent snowfall.”

Snow loading in slow motion in Montreal

The snow loading operation launched last Thursday after the biggest storm of the season for Montreal gave the snow plows a hard time and it is not over.

“We slowed down the snow loading operation on Sunday,” said Philippe Sabourin, spokesperson for the City of Montreal, to the QMI Agency on Monday.

“The trucks and equipment we use for loading are the same ones we use to compact the snow and then add small rocks and salt. On Sunday we exceeded 10 cm of snow, so we temporarily interrupted the snow loading operation. […] The vast majority of boroughs completed everything on Sunday afternoon and returned to the snow loading operation overnight.

“Half of the load remains to be done, i.e. 5,000 km to be carried out. It’s nine times the round trip from Montreal to Quebec, but driving at 15 km / h, “he added, adding that the loading operation should be completed by Friday during the day. »

“We gave our drivers a break during the weekend, so we have all the staff to overcome this snowbank there.”