The streets of Montreal, which were almost dry—except for the occasional, nearly invisible patch of ice—yesterday afternoon are now covered with a thin layer of something slippery.
According to Météo Média, a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain has fallen—and continues to fall—on Montreal and the surrounding area, turning into an icy cocktail that makes travel difficult and sometimes dangerous.
In the Montreal area, several vehicles have skidded off the road, and it looks like this will continue throughout the day.
Snow, sleet, and freezing rain—the perfect conditions for dangerous roads
In addition to the snow and sleet—snow transformed into ice crystals that whip the face and scratch car bodies— up to 20 mm of freezing rain could fall today.
Freezing rain is like a dirty word in Quebec—or a mystical call to the worst storms of our childhood, the most devastating ones.
Freezing rain is rain that remains liquid below the freezing point (zero degrees Celsius) due to the collision of a mass of warm, humid air with a cold front. When this rain comes into contact with an object, it turns to ice , forming the dreaded black ice.
Fortunately, this ice—which will accumulate to nearly 5 mm—will melt this afternoon. But this morning and at noon, you need to be very careful, and frankly, we don’t recommend getting in your car unless you absolutely have to. And if you do drive, you’ll need to be very careful.
For those on foot, it’s time to break out the crampons. For everyone else, let’s steel ourselves with courage because winter HAS to end someday, right?
