Polar vortex brings extreme cold to Montreal

Posted January 20, 2025 1:06 pm.
A mass of cold air from the Arctic – known as a polar vortex – is what’s chilling Quebec, including Montreal, until Wednesday.
Environment and Climate Change Canada saying it will be the coldest we’ve felt in two years.
“In central Quebec this morning, temperatures reached minus 47 degrees Celsius,” said Gina Ressler, Meteorologist with the weather agency. “And that’s degrees without the wind chill.”
“These were the coldest temperatures this morning in all of North America,” she added. “So the coldest temperatures in Quebec, even colder than the Arctic.”
“These kinds of cold snaps are pretty common in Quebec in the winter months, in January and February,” explained Ressler. “It was actually last winter that was the exception.”
“We just really didn’t have that cold air available to us,” she added.
Last year’s winter the weather agency says, didn’t even reach minus 20 degrees.
As for this week, Monday saw minus 14 degrees in Montreal but felt more like minus 24 with the wind chill in the afternoon.
These temperatures, Environment and climate change Canada says, will continue to hover below the minus 20 degrees mark until Wednesday.
Average daytime highs for this time of year in the city they say – around minus six degrees.
“We’re actually expecting the coldest air of the season to affect Quebec this week, Monday until about Wednesday,” said Ressler. “For Montreal, we’re not going to be seeing the extreme temperatures that we’re seeing in other parts of the province.”
“But it’s still noteworthy,” she added. “In that it’s going to be the coldest air that we’ve had in quite some time.”