Montreal is under a snow squall warning and drivers could face ‘near-zero visibility’

Look, out, Montreal. Tonight’s evening commute is shaping up to be a messy one.

Environment Canada has issued a snow squall watch for Montreal, warning that heavy flurries could reduce visibility to near zero during the drive home.

The watch, issued at 5:14 a.m. on Monday, January 19, is in effect for Montreal Island and surrounding areas, including the Montérégie, Lanaudière, and Lower Laurentians. The weather agency is calling this a “moderate” impact event with “high” forecast confidence.

What to expect tonight

The snow squalls are expected to roll in Monday evening, right around rush hour. Wind gusts could reach up to 70 km/h, which will cause blowing snow and make driving conditions difficult.

According to Environment Canada, “travel may be hazardous,” and visibility could be “suddenly reduced to near zero at times.”

Today’s high will reach -5°C with periods of light snow and winds picking up to 20 km/h around noon. With wind chill, it’ll feel more like -12°C.

The heavy flurries should end this evening, leaving behind about 2 cm of fresh snow. Winds will increase from southwest 20 km/h gusting to 40, ramping up to 40 km/h gusting to 70 late tonight. The overnight low will drop to -12°C, but with wind chill it’ll feel like -22°C.

The rest of the week

Tuesday, January 20: The snow squalls will be gone, but the wind definitely won’t be. Expect mainly sunny skies with west winds hitting 40 km/h and gusting up to 60 km/h in the morning before calming down slightly in the afternoon. The temperature will stay around -11°C all day, but the wind chill will make it feel like -23°C in the morning and -18°C in the afternoon. At least it’ll be clear overnight with a low of -13°C.

Wednesday, January 21: More snow is coming. Periods of snow throughout the day and night with a high of -7°C and an overnight low of -7°C. Bundle up.

Thursday, January 22: Cloudy but relatively mild at -1°C during the day. The skies will clear overnight and the temperature will drop to -11°C.

Friday, January 23: There’s a 60% chance of flurries with a high of -9°C. Temps plummet to -24°C with cloudy periods overnight. That’s the kind of cold that hurts your face.

While it’s not a very pretty week overall, Monday will probably feature the most difficult stretch. In the meantime, Environment Canada is advising Montrealers to prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions and to keep monitoring weather alerts. If you can work from home or delay your commute, tonight might be the night to do it.