Spring officially arrived at 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning — but this being Montreal, the arrival of spring usually doesn't mean the end of winter weather.
For one thing, this week will see a mini-cold snap — on Tuesday, we're expecting rain or snow showers, and a high of 3 degrees. That's the average high for this time of year.
Tuesday night, however, the temperature will plummet to -15 — just a degree or two short of a record low for that date.
On Wednesday, we're expecting more snow showers and a high of -8, before temperatures begin their climb back to normal values.
There'll also be gusty winds behind that cold front which, of course, will make things feel much colder.
By Friday, another low pressure system is expected to move in, bringing precipitation. For the moment, the forecasts show temperatures running slightly above normal — but aside from rain, there is a very real possibility we could see another 5 of 10 centimetres of snow, or even ice.
"Whatever it is, it'll just be a nuisance, it'll be misery, and it'll say, hey...we're into spring, and it's not acting like spring," Phillips says. "We'll just have to be patient."
Phillips' long-range models for the spring suggest that it will be somewhat warmer than normal, but he suggests that the real spring weather could be slow in coming, as it often is.
"You're going to have to put up with a sharing of the weather map from winter conditions to spring conditions before we can really say that spring has sprung," Phillips says. "This year doesn't look any different from most springs."
That typical spring, he says, usually involves things like flooding and lots of mud — conditions he expects will be exacerbated as last week's snow melts.