MONTREAL – While Montreal was spared most of the wrath of Friday’s storm, things were pure ‘hell’ in the Laurentians, said a spokesperson for the SQ.
“There are horrible conditions all over, the police are overwhelmed with calls, there are cars off the road in the hundreds,” said Sûréte du Québec Sgt. Gino Paré. “C’est l’enfer.”
The storm, downgraded midday for the Montreal region by Environment Canada from the expected 15 to 20 centimetres of snow to a total of 10 centimetres of a mix of snow, rain and ice pellets, left Montreal streets sloppy with slush, but north of the city where temperatures were slightly cooler, those one or two degrees made a whole lot of difference.
The Laurentians were forecast to get up to 25 centimetres of snow and many people who jumped the gun and installed summer tires after the March 15 deadline passed were paying the price.
The Laurentian Autoroute (Highway 15) was the worst hit because it is the most travelled.
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Paré said there were at least 100 cars off the road by 2 p.m.
In the lower Laurentians the road surface was slick with rain but past St. Jérôme and the surface was snow covered.
“Many people have taken off their winter tires so they are sliding all over the place,” Paré said.
“If you don’t have to go out, stay home,” said Sgt. Claude Denis, noting that there weren’t many accidents in the Eastern Townships, nowhere close to the mess up north.
“If you have obligations that force you to go out, adjust your driving to the road conditions,” Denis said.
Environment Canada meteorologist André Cantin said outside the island of Montreal there was some slight accumulation of snow, though not nearly as much as initially suspected.
Most of the snow turned to slush in Montreal.
“The snow will continue, heaviest in the afternoon, mixed with rain and ice pellets. It will fall lightly and intermitedly overnight ending around 9 a.m. Saturday,” Cantin said.
Saturday will be mostly cloudy with a 50 or 60 per cent chance of showers, and the same on Sunday, cloudy with a slight chance of showers.
Saturday’s forecast high is 7 Celsius, it should go up to 9C on Sunday and 10C on Monday, melting all that slush.
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