Extreme cold warnings blanket the province of Quebec
After an extremely mild month of January, the province is bracing for a blast of arctic air that will move in tonight and last until Saturday. Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued extreme cold warnings that covers most of the province with wind chills expected to be between -38 and -42 across the South and -50 across Northern Quebec.
Extreme cold warnings are in effect across Quebec on Feb. 2, 2023.
An aggressive arctic front will push across the province on Thursday. The front will produce intense snow squalls that could cause near-zero visibility at times on the roads. Montreal is expecting flurries during the day with the intense burst of snow in time for the evening rush hour.
Futurecast for Feb. 2, 2023.
Environment Canada has issued snow squall watches across Southwestern Quebec warning motorists to be prepared for rapidly changing weather conditions resulting in hazardous travel as result of whiteouts, and possible black ice.
Behind the front, temperatures will drop rapidly Thursday night. Montreal will go from a high of -1C Thursday evening, to a low of -21 C in a matter of hours.
The night planner for Feb. 2, 2023.
The front will open the door to the polar vortex. Montreal will not only see its coldest air of the season, but its coldest air in years. The temperature on Friday night will drop to -27 C and the wind will make it feel closer to -40. The mercury is expected to stay below -20 C during the day on Saturday and the wind chill is expected to be around -30. Temperatures will begin to rise Saturday night.
Weekend weather forecast for Montreal on Feb. 2, 2023.
The last time Montreal recorded a daytime high below -20 C was on January 6, 2018.
Fortunately, the extreme cold will be short-lived. Temperatures will bounce back above the freezing mark on Sunday with about five centimetres of snow and milder air is in the foreacast for next week.
The seven-day forecast for the Montreal area starting Feb. 2, 2023.
The arctic air comes after a month of really mild temperatures in the province. Montreal saw a mean temperature of -4.6 C, which is more than five degrees above average. Snowfall for the city was nearly double the normal.
Temperatures and snowfall notes for Feb. 2, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
W5 Investigates | How did a healthy teen die at a minor hockey camp?
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.

Trump's call for protests gets muted reaction by supporters
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.
6 missing after Old Montreal fire 'probably still in the rubble': Police
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
House to debate Conservative interference motion calling Telford and others to testify as part of new study
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent endrun around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is forcing MPs to debate and then vote on a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
opinion | Biden's Canada visit is long overdue and so are the issues facing the North American neighbours: expert
Questions abound as to why U.S. President Biden is only now making the visit to Canada, more than two years into his presidency.
Woman suing Tim Hortons for $500K after hot tea spill left her 'disfigured'
An Ontario woman has launched a lawsuit seeking $500,000 from Tim Hortons after she suffered major burns from an alleged ‘superheated’ tea. The company has denied all allegations and said she was ‘the author of her own misfortune.'
China's Xi meeting Putin in boost for isolated Russia leader
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is due to meet with Vladimir Putin in a political boost for the isolated Russian president after the International Criminal Court charged him with war crimes in Ukraine.
Air passenger complaints triple in one year to pass 42,000 as backlog grows
The number of air passenger complaints to Canada's transport regulator is soaring, more than tripling to 42,000 over the past year.
Trails of human bacteria from sneezing and coughing preserved on Mount Everest: study
Even at one of the tallest natural peaks on Earth, humans have left their mark in a trail of bacteria as researchers have found germs from coughing and sneezing that have been potentially preserved for centuries on Mount Everest.