Freezing rain warnings dropped for southern Quebec

Freezing rain gave way to light snow overnight Thursday in parts of southern Quebec, including Montreal, the city woke up to a mesy mix of precipitation.

There was "rain, then freezing rain, then snow, sleet and then freezing rain again and freezing drizzle this morning," said Jean-Philippe Begin of Environment Canada.

Temperatures Thursday are expected to reach a high of 0 degrees C and a low of -3.

Periods of light snow mixed with freezing drizzle are forecasted throughout the day, but the freezing rain warnings in place across much of southern Quebec have been dropped.

Environment Canada was cautioning drivers to avoid non-essential travel as ice built up on roads, highways, walkways and parking lots overnight.

The agency said that while not much more precipitation is expected to fall from the sky, it will be sticking around. The temperature will stay below zero through the weekend.

POWER OUTAGES

Although the freezing rain warning has been lifted, the Montérégie region saw numerous power outages Thursday morning.

At 6 a.m., Hydro-Quebec reported 126 outages throughout the province, including 114 in Montérégie, where 27,700 customers were without power.

The same was true for over 1,350 others in the Eastern Townships.

As of 1:30 p.m., just over 16,000 homes across the province were without electricity, nearly all of which are in Montérégie.

MONTREAL STORM WATCH

• Environment Canada weather alerts - southern Quebec
• Hydro-Quebec outages by region
• STM bus line status
• Metro service updates
• Montreal-Trudeau Airport Departures | Arrivals
• Exo commuter train status
• Via rail trains status

With files from The Canadian Press.