Montreal is hunkering down for its first deep freeze of the winter season.

The New Year has brought with it a wallop of winter weather, including a cocktail of snow and freezing rain Sunday, following by another 10 centimetres of snow Tuesday night.

Experts are warning Quebecers to take precautions as the arctic air mass descends.

“You can develop frostbite really quickly and it's not something you can feel. Depending on whether there's a big wind chill involved with it, or as the temperatures dip below -15, -20 (degrees Celsius) which we are currently in right now,” explained dermatologist Beatrice wang.

Environment Canada is predicting gusts of up to 50 kilometres Wednesday night, making those temperatures feel more like -34 Celsius.
 

Those most vulnerable will be taken care of, said Harout Chitilian, vice-president of the city of Montreal executive committee.

“We have specialized teams from all our different partners in the shelters going around and making sure we take care of everybody, because it's going to get really cold tonight,” he said.

The teams that clear the streets will also halt working Wednesday night.

“We halted the clearing operations because we had close to four centimetres of snow last night, but we will start right after this is done. We're close to 66 per cent of clearing the streets of Montreal,” said Chitilian.

“Because most Quebecers will be heading indoors, Hydro-Quebec is asking customers to keep their consumption low during peak hours of 6-9 a.m. and 4-8 p.m.,” said Hydro-Quebec spokesperson Marie-Helene Devault.

“What they can do is reduce temperature in the room by one or two degrees, and postpone running heavy appliances like dishwashers and dryers and limit the use of hot water,” she said.