Think It's Snowy In Vermont? Let's Take A Quick Trip To Montreal

Montreal is a mess after two storms within four days
dumped 30 inches of snow on the city. Snow removal
has been slow because of the volume of the snowfall
and people are getting frustrated.

 We spent a lot of time over the past several days talking about all the snow here in Vermont, but if you really want snow, we should talk about Montreal. 

And other large sections of Quebec and Ontario. 

Two storms between Thursday and Sunday dumped nearly 30 inches of snow on Montreal. 

It was the largest amount of snow on record for such a short period of time.  The city had 40 percent of its normal annual snowfall within five days. 

Montrea[ had full blizzard conditions, which are common further north in Quebec but rare in southern parts of the province. Winds around Montreal Sunday and Monday gusted from 35 to as high as 55 mph, whipping the snow into tremendous drifts. 

Sunday's storm was slightly larger than Thursdays, depositing about 16 inches of snow on Montreal and 21 inches in Mirabel. 

Sunday's storm was the fourth largest snowfall on record in Montreal. Thursday's storm was tenth largest.  (Montreal's biggest snowstorm dropped 18 inches of snow on the city on December 27, 2012.

At least one death was reported due to the storm.  A 57-year old ma was found dead inside a snow-covered car with its engine running, Global News reports.

 It's likely the snow blocked the car's exhaust, backing deadly carbon monoxide back into the car where the man was sitting.

In Chateauguay, Quebec, just south of Montreal, a 13-year old girl was in critical condition after she was found unresponsive beneath a collapsed snowbank.  A snow tunnel must have collapsed. 

Montreal has a reputation as being at least somewhat  efficient at snow removal, but this threw the city for a loop. Schools were canceled Monday and the city told anyone who was able to work from home to do so. 

Quiet weather starting Tuesday has allowed Montreal to get the cleanup going in earnest, but officials said it could take to early next week to get all the sidewalks plowed. On Tuesday, only six percent of rte snow had been cleared from Montreal streets. So yeah, this will take awhile.

As of midweek, city streets were still treacherous. Snowbanks made street parking virtually impossible.  Adding to the chaos, pedestrians were walking in the streets because sidewalks were still blocked by snow. 

If you're contemplating a quick trip up to Montreal, I'd wait more than a week before doing it. 

The huge volume of snow is making it hard to get rid of it all. Montreal has these big snow blowers that filled one large 45-foot truck every minute to be hauled to a snow dump. The city either dumps snow into sewer chutes, where it mixes with warmer wastewater, melts, and is then treated by the city's wastewater system. Or it's deposited at dumps, including an old quarry, where the snow gradually melts in the summer. 

 Far away from Montreal, and well northeast of Quebec City, an avalanche swept across a highway and trapping cars. However, everyone escape unscathed. 

Toronto was also reeling from the dual snowstorms.  Main roads there are clear, but like Montreal, Toronto has to load snow on trucks and haul it away, which is taking forever given the 21 inches of snow that fell on Toronto in the dual storms. 

The slow pace of snow clearing in Toronto is frustration residents, much like in Montreal. 

It's unclear if the weather had anything to do with the plane crash in Toronto Monday in which a plane with 80 people on board crashed and flipped over when trying to land.  Twenty-one people were hurt, but miraculously no deaths were reported. 

The plane landed amid blowing snow and strong winds, but pilots are trained to take off and land in such conditions, so it could well have been a mechanical problem. 

Much like here in Vermont, the snow machine as shut off for now in most of southern Quebec and Ontario. Only very light snows are expected in Toronto and Montreal over the next week. In both cities, high temperatures next Monday through Wednesday could rise to levels slightly above freezing. 

Videos:

 Scenes from the Montreal blizzard. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below, click on that. 

News report shows how chaotic things looked in Montreal. Again, click on the link or if you see image below click on that:

Judging from this video, it looks like Ottawa, Canada is very efficient at removing near 30 inches of snow from city streets. Click on this link to view or if you see image below, click on that. 

 

A walk through a Montreal neighborhood Wednesday morning shows how chaotic things still are in the city. Click on this link or if you see the image below click on that.