Hang onto your hats — your sun hats, that is.
Montreal is expecting to see its sunniest, driest stretch of weather all year beginning Thursday. And the city is also expected to record its first 20 C reading of the year so far.
As a low-pressure system clears out of the region on Wednesday, high pressure will begin to take hold of the weather pattern. Montreal and southwestern Quebec will see a string of sunny days beginning Thursday, continuing through the weekend for Mother’s Day.
And it looks like the pattern will hold into next week. The city could see at least six days of sunshine — the longest stretch of sunny weather in 2022.
Along with the sunshine, will come the heat. The temperature in Montreal is expected to reach 20 C for the first time this year on Monday, and the daytime high could hit the mid-20s by Tuesday.
Daytime highs are projected to remain in the 20 C range through the second week of May.
Montreal usually records its first 20 C temperature reading in the month of April, but this year, April featured slightly below-average temperatures and above-average precipitation.
The city picked up nearly 140 millimetres of precipitation compared to an average of 82 millimetres. Montreal also got hit with 20 centimetres of snow last month, even more than Quebec city, which had a total of only 2 centimetres. The normal snowfall for Montreal in April is 13 centimetres.
The lack of heat was certainly noticeable compared to last year. In 2021, Montreal had its first 20 C reading in March, followed by four more 20 C days in April.
Montreal saw its first 30 C temperature reading in May and went on to record a total of three that month.
