It's not so much Wednesday during the day that I'm concerned about; it's moreso the evening. The front is moving Northeastward, and close places like Ottawa and Cornwall to our West and Southwest respectively, have the risk of showers and light rains, and so there's a possibility that it could creep our way in the latter part of the day. If anything though, I'm sure it would be along the lines of a 40-60% chance, so there's good news. Thank goodness the winds should be more and less calm, as Enkil stated, but regardless, make sure you bundle up! If there's enough clouds present, which there should be, it should keep things slightly warmer.

And yes, Friday is the bigger issue. As mentioned in my previous post above, I'll continue to track the Colorado low and keep an eye on its speed.

Trav.

According to tomorrow evening's forecast, there should be overcasted conditions, thus keeping the temperatures from dropping excessively. Still being persistent, there's a risk of precipitation during the course of the evening as well along that warm front, but even if rain does occur, I don't think it would be anything beyond the form of light showers, as depicted by various precipitation maps. Temperatures should stay at about 10-11 Celsius with light winds around 10 km/h from the Northeast and East. Bring your jackets, and of course it wouldn't hurt to bring a small umbrella.

I'm uncertain if I'll be able to make it tomorrow evening given the hour of presentation and my problem with transportation.

Trav.

Wow, that's really good! Usually, the temperature is around 5°C during night time these days. We're lucky! Friday's forecast still hasn't changed, but maybe it won't rain a lot. Hopefully, you'll be able to make it, Smoke...

Hey Enkil,

I don't think I'll be able to make it tonight as well as Friday, but maybe you or someone could always fill me in briefly with a small summary!

Enjoy the show, guys, and remember the weather conditions! Everything should be alright, but there's still the risk of showers this evening and overnight associated with the warm front, so keep it in mind. Things should be mostly cloudy and mild for the most part, though.

Trav.

Trav,

Though I'm not sure what's keeping you from going tonight & Friday, I do remember you mentioning that transportation was possibly a problem for you.

I'm driving down to Namur metro station and taking the metro to Papineau. I'd be glad to give you a ride there and back if that would help - especially since you live close by.

Sorry about the late notice, but if you get this message before 8-8:30 and want the ride, give me a call 514-651-8723.

If not, then thanks, as always, for the weather update! And I'll have the displays from both nights on video - the next-best-thing to being there.

Tyler

Hi TRae,

Wow, I really appreciate your very kind gesture, my friend, but don't worry about it. The reason for my absence tonight is simply we've been invited for dinner at my aunt's place and to have a reunion with some family that are coming up from Toronto. With respect to Friday night, I may be heading to Brockville (and traveling in the rain ). It's true that I do have trouble with transportation, but it appeared that things changed up for me otherwise this week. If anything changes for Friday, I'll definitely let you know. And it looks as if though I did indeed got your message too late, but it's no big deal. I guess I'll see you and everyone else when you get back.

And it's more than a pleasure to bring forward the weather conditions to you guys as well. It really reminds me of the good times during the actual competition in the Summer time.

Take care, enjoy the show, and thanks for everything!

Trav.

Guys,

Terrible weather conditions, though quite mild and humid, will prevail for most of the day on Friday with that approaching Colorado low, and from the types of clouds seen today, you can tell that its on the move. This is a very complex low, but I won't go into extreme details.

The trajectory of the system has changed in such a way that it will take a ride on the jet stream, move Northward and then take its original Easterly track. Because of this fallback in its prior constant motion/direction, this means that the greatest possiblity of rain/heavy rain could occur in the later afternoon to the early evening along the cold front, according to the precipitation models. Likewise, with the impeding movement, the system will naturally take somewhat longer to exit our region, in which case it won't conclude its business here until early Saturday.

However, unlike other typical Colorado lows, this one lacks somewhat in completing its full development due to the absence of colder air in the West, so things could have actually been a lot worse! On the other hand, the system is still vigorous because there is ample influxes of moisture coming in from the Gulf to sustain its current intensity. As a result, expect the risk of thunderstorms to be greatest in the afternoon to early evening (some of these, if they occur, could produce some loud bangs) in addition to rains. There is again a lot of moisture associated with this, so things will also be a bit humid and this could indeed serve to cause some of the t-storms out there to reach severe limits(I can't believe I'm stating this kind of scenario and it's almost November!).

To sum up, we have anywhere from an 60-80% chance of rain for the evening hours, along with the risk of thunderstorms, some of which could be heavy should they occur. Winds will be fairly gusty at times, as is the case with vigorous lows, at 25-35 km/h (gusts could be closer 50 km/h) from the South and Southwest, which will shift to the NW after the front comes through. Finally, I suppose we can all appreciate the gorgeous temperature of 17-19 C present at the time. Note that we could get close to the 25+ mm range, most of which will fall in the afternoon and early evening. The winds are also a concern, so I hope they won't be strong enough to delay the fireworks.

In any case, all I can tell you guys is that all we can hope for is that we get our usual weather-proof fireworks barrier at the time of presentation, as was most prevalent with all the threats this past year, and that things hold off for the 45 minutes provided. I'll give one last report tomorrow before the shows are set to begin, but I'll be looking at radar and satellite imagery to see how things will be processing.

You know the drill, bring your umbrellas and be equipted! I didn't think I'd be storm watching at the end of October...

Trav.

Trav, the term "weather-proof fireworks barrier" just made my night.

Now if only the Habs can beat Ottawa.

And for those of you waiting for my videos, the first is uploaded and being processed by YouTube. I'll post a link during one of the hockey game's intermissions when it's finished.

Thanks for the update Trav.

Everything in my previous message still stands firmly, though the chance of seeing precipitation at some point in the evening is practically guaranteed. Winds still breezy from the South and Southwest with slightly weaker speeds at 20-30 km/h with occasional gusts closer to 45 km/h. Temperatures are still at 17-19 C, but it's just the rain and wind combo that is the setback. Thunderstorms are also still a possibility. Just hope that the rain holds off, or at least shows breaks between 9:45-10:30, even though hourly forecasts suggest showers and steady rainfall until early overnight.

A few words about radar and satellite imagery, there are, and have been quite a bit of bands of precipiation in our vicinity since 2:00, and is now falling steady at this time (almost 4:00) and since prior to 3:00. Most of the precipitation associated with this is mostly moderate, and some approaching near heavy-those that are associated with thunderstorms. I am detecting some lightning activity in between these bands, most of which is occurring to our South and West. Some of these can still turn severe in the coming hours until the cold front finally passes through, but no watches and warnings have been issued from Environment Canada as of yet for Montreal or areas near the island. In some contradiction, personally at this point, I don't think big Summer-like thunderstorms will erupt, merely because of shorter day length and a generally weaker temperature/pressure gradient present, but decent t-storm activity is still well possible this afternoon and evening embedded in these bands.

And Tyler, perhaps I should introduce that term more often in my future reports. And again, it was no problem for providing the update, although it isn't the best of news! However, note that we had a humidex of 30 Celsius today on October 19th, while reaching about 25 C. Now that is good news!

Well, that's all I have to say with respect to the weather. I leave the rest up to you guys.

Chow!

Trav.

Those of you thinking about attending the fireworks tomorrow night, I advise that you dress appropriately as the weather will be uncomfortably cold. We're expecting a daytime high of barely -10 C with breezy conditions (winds Westerly ranging from 20-30 km/h), creating a windchill at or near -20 C along with obviously clear skies. Because there will be minimal cloud cover in the evening, the clear skies will promote rapid loss of heat that was absorbed at the surface during whatever short daylight hours we have.

Reduce as much exposure to the cold as possible, and keep warm if you must be out there for extended periods of time. The Colorado low on the way in time for Monday/late Sunday will be our second Winter storm giving way to a Wintery mix (snow, a little bit of ice pellets, freezing rain, etc.) and possible strong winds, but at least this won't be a problem for tomorrow night, just the bone chilling temperatures!

Do you guys miss Summer already?

Trav.

It's actually going to be quite the contrast in weather conditions compared to that of last Saturday's dreadful cold. Temperatures will be a fair deal milder tomorrow evening and I'm expecting temperatures to range around -5 to -7 C during the evening hours along with winds (breezy Westerlies between 15-20 km/h) creating windchills no less than -13 C, as opposed to last week's -20s. There could be some small distribution of lingering low cloud here and there, but things will predominantly be clearing out. However, note that even though it is generally warmer, the temperatures will speed up in declining during the late evening/overnight hours to as low as -14 C due to clear skies.

In essence, nothing too impressive to be mentioned for tomorrow's weather, so things should be alright for Ampleman's performance, while the slightly milder temperatures should make things a little more comfortable, though still dress accordingly of course. The somewhat breezy winds may cause some small discomfort, but nothing you can't handle, right?

Trav.

Good evening,

If any of you are planning on heading out to see the fireworks tomorrow evening for the Fire on Ice event, be prepared to face bone-chilling temperatures once again, colder than what was experienced back on the 1st of December by a few degrees Celsius - I advise that you protect yourself adequately against this frigid weather. The winds will vary between the light and moderate border at 10-20 km/h, while predominantly coming from the East, enough to make things uncomfortable. Temperatures could be as cold as -21 C tonight, but our high tomorrow is as low as -14 to -15 C. I do however expect the evening values to moderate somewhat since some cloud will begin to move in from the Southwest associated with that big Winter storm moving up to Eastern Canada (more on this after). Windchills could easily surpass the -20 C threshold at -22 to -23 C. All I can say is to dress very warmly and again to reduce your exposure to the cold to a minimum whenever possible. Perhaps double layered clothing coupled with a thick warm coat would do it justice.

Now for the Winter storm. I was monitoring the system for days now and I was hoping it would maintain its initial East/Northeast trajectory back on Wednesday and head off towards the Atlantic. Instead, it's taking on a more North and Northeasterly path and is going to push right into most of Eastern Canada with copious snows and at times gusty Easterly winds, creating blowing and drifting snow. The storm will commence tomorrow during the overnight hours, so it won't be a problem for tomorrow evening's display. In terms of accumulations by the time the storm departs mid-Monday, well we are assured at least 20 cm, but there is a possibility that we could see even 30 cm, and potentially even close to 40 cm. Adding accumulations within the last month and assuming we get 30 cm from this storm, this means that after this storm has completed its business, we would have gotten easily between 85-90 cm so far within just a month's time since accumulations have been occurring in mid November.

It looks like we're getting a variety of situations this weekend: Tomorrow (Saturday) is freezing cold and Sunday is a big snowstorm. You guys take care if you have to go out on either day, especially Sunday into the Monday morning commute. Best advice is to stay home if possible. It's going to be one big mess out there, take my word for it.

I suppose it's safe to say that we're guaranteed a white Christmas.

Trav.

Thanks so much for the forecast Trav - I figured one was coming which is why I haven't so much as glanced at any other weather reports... knowing that yours are the only ones to trust!

I have to head downtown to hand in my last two final papers for the semester on Monday. I will make sure to give myself an extra hour or so for the commute using public transportation.

I was kind of hoping for a nice snowfall during Royal's display tomorrow night... maybe I'll get one for the final Feux sur Glace display.

Tyler

Hi Tyler,

It was no problem at all with the report, my friend, but I also felt that this Winter storm, called a Nor'easter, deserved some acknowledgement since it will be bringing quite a mess. The winds will be gusty (possible gusts could be clocked at 80-90 km/h) tomorrow as well from the NE and East, and the snow will subsequently be pelting.

As for next week for the final display, I'm watching a disturbance possibly developing for much later in the week, and so you may very well get your wish with some snowfall in time for next weekend, but I won't make any promises just yet until time marches forward.

In any case, I hope the papers went well and hope the commute to school wouldn't be too bad Monday morning.

Enjoy Royal's show tonight, while keeping warm of course. Look forward to the videos as well.

Trav.

Just for the heck of it, I wanted to throw in some little statistics about the lashing December 16th Winter storm. For the most part, snow was accumulating at a rate between 2-5 cm per hour during most of the storm's duration with the exception of when it was entering and when it was departing. I checked the maximum gust of wind at about 77 km/h, while the maximum sustained wind, which occurred at approximately 4:00 p.m yesterday, was observed at 53 km/h from the NE, which was the dominant wind direction due to the motion of a "Nor'easter". In the end, for most of the island of Montreal, depending on where you reside, the average accumulations of snow did indeed reach quite close to 40 cm where some areas were locally below that threshold value and some slightly over - the West Island received about 42 cm.

We've obviously received well above more than the average amount of snow for the entire month of December. My previous records of snow accumulation totals since mid-November actually closely match those given by observational networks, and so we've received between 95-100 cm (my 85 to 90 cm was under the assumption that we get close to 30 cm as opposed to closer to 40 from this storm) of snow as a grand total, which is equivalent to over 3 feet. To sum up for Montreal:

Snow total: ~40
Max wind gust: 77 km/h
Max sustained wind: 53 km/h (Northeasterly)
Grand total of snow to date: close to 100 cm, or ~1 meter (within a month's time)

As for snow accumulations of some selected major cities that I thought would be interesting for comparison (all in centimeters):

Quebec City: 53
Cornwall, Ontario: 51
Ottawa: 36
Windsor, Ontario: 28
Moncton: ~20
Toronto: 16 (plus ice pellets and some freezing rain)
Halifax: 15

Finally, I took these pictures and tried to get some objects comparable to about 3 feet in height in the photos. The actual height of the snow is astonishing:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b132/Rain12/DSC00658.jpg

In this picture you can see the chairs almost completely buried. You can also barely see the table there, which is practically covered up, and its top represents about 3 feet off the ground. This is mostly undisturbed snow:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b132/Rain12/DSC00661.jpg

What a storm this was! I hope that everyone got through it alright. It's too bad we're going to get about another ~5 cm by Wednesday from an Alberta Clipper.

Trav.

Good evening,

It looks as if though another deep intense area of low pressure (the "disturbance" I was referring to last week) will be affecting most of Eastern Canada this weekend, though not quite in the same way the Nor'easter of last Sunday did - quite the contrary in fact. The story is that temperatures are on the rise temporarily. Associated with the low is a strong surge of very warm air provided by the warm front, allowing temperatures to rise drastically to about 8-10 Celsius come early to mid Sunday! For Saturday evening with respect to the final fireworks display, though, it will also be quite warm since temperatures will be actually rising as opposed to falling with the arrival of that warm front. As a result, it's possible to see some rain showers during the evening and overnight hours. The high on Saturday is about 0 to -1 C along with possible scattered flurries (wet) during the day. This is good news, as the temperatures won't be nearly as cold as they were last week and on the 1st of Dec.. The winds will be breezy easterlies at anywhere between 15-25 km/h as that low approaches. Best advice is to still obviously dress warmly, and of course to watch out for possible rain showers. In essence, a slushy weekend coming up, but at least it will help melt and thaw out some of the snow!

Finally, note that although it is indeed expected to be warm for Sunday, temperatures will rapidly drop off during the course of the day, and so the rain could quickly transform back into snow come late day Sunday, which should give way to some small snowfall overnight Sunday and of course in time for Christmas Eve. Consequently, the high of 8-10 C will more likely arrive earlier in the day as opposed to later in it.

In other news, the Winter solstice officially arrives overnight tonight at 1:08 a.m, marking tomorrow night the longest night of the year. However, to be honest, with the onset of Winter, things aren't looking too bad this coming week. In the meantime, I'm doing my best in enjoying this short-lived wonderful warm weather coming! Rain and even the risk of an embedded thundershower is possible.

And so concludes the reports for 2007! What an interesting year this was in terms of weather, not just in terms of during the fireworks, but also on an overall basis. Let's see what Summer 2008 has to offer - I'm expecting it to be a hot one for some odd reason...

Trav.

And with the conclusion to the 2007 weather reports comes a HUGE thank you to you, Trav!

It's only a matter of time before the majority of Montrealers begin turning to this forum as its primary source for weather forecasts.

Paul, time to start thinking about how you can cash in on Trav!

Tyler

Hi Tyler,

As always, it was really no problem in forwarding all the condensed weather information, and I'm enamored to know that they were useful for the most part. And with that comes a big you're welcome.

Just one last thing that I thought would be worth mentioning for tonight, but the winds will be quite gusty with the passage of that strong cold front. I mentioned this to Enkil very briefly, but these winds are the result of a sharp temperature difference behind and ahead of the front, and so as stated in my previous post about temperatures dropping off rapidly, strong winds will work to equalize the large temperature difference gap - temperatures will drop off about as much as 12 Celsius in a matter of hours tonight. Environment Canada also seems to have issued a wind warning, where winds could gust close to possibly 90 km/h, so take care if you must be out later tonight into most of the day tomorrow.

And finally, I just wanted to correct our snowfall figure from the December 16th storm, in which case we received about 32 cm and not close to 40 cm - the latter was set in areas near Gatineau, which I was looking at in error. This means that we've gotten about 64 cm from both major storms combined, both of which occurred this month.

I'll leave it there! Look forward to Summer, and again I was glad to be of service.

Take care, guys.

Trav.

^^^

I apologize for the double post, but I forgot to mention one thing to my list of updates, and that's about being able to see Mars! The sight will be quite appealing both tonight and tomorrow night (Christmas Eve) as Mars rises in the East as the Sun sets in the West at dusk.

Unfortunately, the weather will not be cooperating tonight as we're getting mostly overcasted and rainy (at times heavy) conditions this evening. However, there is a chance that we could see it in time for tomorrow evening as the clouds may subside somewhat, so if you get the chance and the weather is permitting it, take a look at around dusk and look East and you should see a bright golden-like object, which is Mars. It will look distinctive because it happens to be rising in conjunction with the sun setting, so it will allow it to shimmer nicely in the sky. I sincerely hope that we get the chance since Mars won't be as distinctively seen again until 2016.

It would have been even more splendid to see it tonight, though, since the Moon will also be gliding right past Mars to the Northeast, but as long as we can see the planet, that's what counts!

On a side note, speaking of Mars, there's a 1 in 75 chance that an asteroid could collide with the planet by around January 30th, 2008. These are actually good odds by comparison.

That's all I have to offer.

Cheers,

Trav.

Greetings,

I simply wanted to inform and bring everyone's attention to some interesting news about the lunar eclipse taking place tomorrow night (the 20th) just in case you didn't know, and of course if you're interested. There will be three phases of the eclipse where the Moon will first pass through the Earth's outer shadow, the penumbra, and later into the inner shadow, the umbra, after about an hour and a half has elapsed, and finally back into the penumbra. The entire eclipse cycle, including the partial, will last about just over 3 hours. For those of us living under Eastern Daylight Time, the spectacle will commence around 8:42 p.m and last up till roughly 12:09 a.m. Once the Moon enters the penumbra, some of the sunlight will be blocked out on it, but at about 10:01 p.m (EST) the Moon will enter into the umbral part of the shadow, which is when the total eclipse will start. At this time, the Moon is expected to take on an interesting mix of colors ranging between orange, red, and perhaps even darkish brown. This is in part because some of the incoming sunlight hitting the Earth's atmosphere is usually refracted back towards space, but in this case it will be hitting the moon, creating some of these vivid colors through time. The total eclipse is estimated to last approximately 50 minutes before it re-enters the secondary partial eclipse. In all, this event is rather interesting since the eclipse is taking place in conjunction with a moon phase.

Regarding the weather, we should be alright since high pressure is slowly moving in giving us but a few cloudy periods, although it will be cold, so bundle up if you're planning to head out there and see the eclipse from another vantage point.

And on a celestial note, isn't it now nice to see the sunlight lasting on the horizon close to 6:00 p.m? We're gaining extra daylight fast - an average of a 2-3 minute gain each day for the past few weeks. That pattern will continue up till June 21st.

Cheers,

Trav.

Thanks for the detailed information Trav - I will be watching a bit before 10 o'clock with great interest.

Hope you're enjoying it!

Hi Trae,

Indeed, I'm enjoying the eclipse quite a bit, and I hope everyone who's getting the chance to see it is liking it to the same level! Just taking a little intermission, but I'm excited about the total eclipse coming soon!

In any case, right now the Moon is into the partial eclipse, and as it continues to push further into the outer shadow and into that of the inner, the entire surface will eventually be darkened. By 10 up till 10:51 p.m, a light orange color may emerge slowly, and perhaps a little later even a shade of red. The color actually depends on the amount of dust in the Earth's atmosphere, so if there's a lot in concentration, chances are the Moon will take on more of a redish tint and perhaps even darkish brown. If not, a lighter orange may take place, making it look like a Halloween pumpkin. Either way, a nice lunar display going on. Following 10:51, the Moon's surface will slowly gain back light from the Sun and be fully exposed 10 minutes past midnight.

Enjoy the exciting, yet somehow intimidating lunar display, guys. And it was no problem for the information! The next lunar eclipse takes place on December 20th, 2010, just before Winter solstice starts.

Take care,

Trav.

Good evening,

I figured a little analysis would be interesting since this coming snowstorm is one of much vehemence. Goodness.

As I'm sure many of you are aware of by now, a terrible low pressure system is tracking its way Northward from the United States, and this massive storm could deliver crippling amounts of snow to many highly populated areas in Eastern North America, including in and around our region. I've been tracking this system for several days now (even before our recent snowfall) since the storm was in its infancy, but now it has matured itself quite a bit since then and now has its eye set on Eastern Canada as it takes a ride on that jetstream leading it here.

With regards to Montreal, Southwestern/Eastern Quebec and Eastern Ontario, 40-50 cm (a minimum of close to a foot) is very possible in these regions, making this particular storm the king of all snowstorms we've encountered since last November. However, it's not just the snow, but also the gusty winds that will accompany it, which in fact could be in excess of 70-80 km/h from the North/Northeast tomorrow afternoon into the evening - this will create strong lashing, blowing and drifting snow. As it tracks Northward, the pressure gradient between the storm and the high pressure further to the North of Quebec will become gradually steeper, creating eventually stronger winds.

In the extreme Southern portion of New Brunswick, this looks to be an all rain event, as is the case for the majority of Nova Scotia. Central New Brunswick, this can be a persistent wave of freezing rain and ice pellets, but Northern New Brunswick, it's all snow. States' side there have been reports of copious amounts of snow in many parts of the midwest - it's all snow on the back end of the low, but South of it, it's rain, such as in Southern New York and in part why it's going to rain in Nova Scotia. Further South into Florida and Georgia, this system has been responsible for several tornado outbreaks in and North of Tallahassee, though thankfully no one was hurt there. And it's snowing as far South as Jackson, Mississippi. Quite a complex system!

For us, the snow will commence rather soon and persist until early to mid Sunday before it slows down into light flurries. There are two waves associated with this storm (think of it as the small and big asteroid from that movie "Deep Impact" lol) - the first wave will deliver anywhere from 10-15 cm of snow by tomorrow morning before the major secondary component of the storm moves later on tomorrow - this could bring us a fast additional 20-30 cm by the end of early Sunday. The center of the low is currently North of Georgia, but is slowly migrating this way to Eastern Canada, just in time for later tomorrow afternoon. Once the first wave moves out, you may notice the snow subsiding to some extent tomorrow morning, but don't let that fool you - the bigger secondary wave of precipitation is well on the way following that little episode. For the most part between both waves, the snow will be persistent, though just perhaps lighter in nature before it picks up increasingly again. There's a slight chance that we could encounter some ice pellets mixing in tomorrow afternoon, but that's much more pronounced for the Eastern Townships East of here.

Now, that's how the storm will work until the first half of Sunday (that entirely depends on how fast the system moves out, of course). This storm, given its strength, has the potential of breaking the record set back on March 4th, 1971 for the most snow that ever fell in a single day. On March 4th, 1971, 43.2 cm fell in Montreal, so if we get at least 43.3 cm from this coming system within a 24 hour period, then it's a new record. Similarly, to date, we have precisely 317 cm of snow since November. The record set back for the time period of 1970-1971, from November to mid April, was a grand total of 382.7 cm (or ~383). Assuming we get at least 30 cm from this storm, that'll bring us up to 347 cm, making us liable to pick up about 36.1-37 cm. From this last recent storm, we acquired exactly 19.2 cm, but expect possibly more than double that from this monstrosity of a storm. Ottawa, too, could see record-breaking accumulations (their record is about 437 cm by mid April in 1971). Either way, this is easily the second snowiest Winter on record. That same storm from 1971 was additionally responsible for 17 deaths alone in Montreal, so I'm hoping that we won't see a repeat of that.

In closing, if there's any last minute things anyone needs to do, best do it now. I'm expecting the snow to start slowly anytime now (probably already did) as the first light bands of precip on radar are slowly pushing this way in from Cornwall. I'll have final accumulations likely by Sunday-Monday. And yes, TRae, I'll prepare myself well. This is quite devastating given the MASSIVE heights of those snowbanks already seen out there. We're actually really lucky since a lot of the snow had melted during the January thaw in the first week of the month, or else we'd be even worse off. Either way, we're so buried...the snow is already almost as tall as my fence!

On a side note, don't forget to advance your clocks one hour forward this Sunday (there's some nice news that I wanted to save for ya). And yeah, another possible system could be here in time for mid week next week, but I'll keep an eye on that.

If anybody is interested in taking pictures and posting them here, feel free to do so - after all, it is, at the moment, the biggest storm this season!

Edit: I honestly don't mind beating the record, considering that we've suffered and endured so much this Winter already! Might as well! Go for it, Winter 07-08!

In any case, take care and stay safe,

Trav.

Thanks for the report, Smoke. I think the mini-storm has just ended. Now, we're between both systems. The major one should be here in an hour, I think. Right?

Hi Enkil,

I'm sorry for the late response - I've been so caught up with the storm! My apologies!

No problem for the report, my friend. Seeing the time you posted, yes, the first wave had already gone through since earlier this morning, giving us about 7 cm of snow by the time the snow had slowed down. I noticed a little mixture of freezing rain accretions mixed in this morning as well, though that was short-lived.

As for the second wave, well, as I'm sure you're very well seeing our there, it has very well started and has really picked up from 2-3:00 p.m, especially as we approached 4:00. Those precipitation bands currently coming as I write this are quite moisture-abundant, hence the REALLY chunky flakes that have been coming down over the last couple of hours. This sort of snow should persist for most of the evening, and there's still another 15-25 cm well on the way by tomorrow morning until the entire secondary component of the system finally moves off. Wind warnings as I was sure would pop up today, have just been issued by Environment Canada and gusts could get close to 90 km/h, possibly more in some cases, throughout tonight and this evening. Please beware of this.

Elsewhere, big t-storms around lakes Ontario and Erie, as well as in Maryland have developed over the last few hours. There's quite a bit of convective energy associated with the system, thus heavy thunderstorms have been errupting in more Southern parts of the system.

Regarding our snow, the reason why we're getting so much of it is merely because of our proximity to the center of the low.

Again, if anyone has pics, feel free to share them. Big clean up coming up...

Trav.

This snowstorm is just too amazing! Definitely the best one so far this Winter. The winds are very powerful and getting stronger every hour. With 90km/h winds, I think we now have our "Snowstorm of the Century". I hope we get more than 40cm lol.

You said it, Enkil, let's go for it, as I said in my last message! This is why I had also said in my report "the king of snowstorms" is coming.

I can't wait to see your footage, Enkil! I got kinda excited that I took some as well from all angles of my house, but I don't think it'll be nearly as epic as yours. The winds could very well reach 100 km/h at times. It looks just insane out there as I write this, but you're right, I also noticed the winds picking up steadily, though perhaps every half an hour at times! Take a look at the radar imagery - it's very impressive right now! Looks like a secondary band of heavy snow is still yet to follow.

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php?product=satradarmaps&pageco ntent=satradarmaps&map_strd=montreal&genre_strd=satrad&idx_strd=12&ani matemaps=true

Feel free to post any new updates if you have anything you'd like to share! March 7th-March 8th - one big storm to remember for the rest of our lives. I'm just happy that I dedicated a little report to cover it.

Other than that, don't even think about going out there, guys!

Trav.

Smoke, I think I saw lightning, several times!!

You saw it, too? Then I wasn't seeing things! It's certainly possible-this system has a good deal of vertical development on it, indicative of convection.

Anyhow---Lightning coupled with snowstorm=thundersnow!

Trav.

I'm excited for the "secondary band of heavy snow" coming from Brockville. So far, this has been a great show to watch lol.