High winds swept through Quebec on Tuesday, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents without power. At its peak, over 315,000 Hydro-Quebec customers experienced outages, though the number decreased to less than 80,000 by 8:30 p.m.
The most severely impacted areas included Montérégie, Lanaudière, Laurentians, Montreal, Laval, and the Capitale-Nationale region. Premier François Legault stated that officials were closely monitoring the situation. Hydro-Québec attributed the outages to strong winds, with gusts reaching up to 90 kilometers per hour in some locations and up to 120 kilometers per hour in others.
In the Greater Montreal area, several schools under the Lester B. Pearson School Board were closed due to power disruptions, including Soulanges Elementary School, Pierrefonds Community High School, and West Island Career Centre.
Travel was also affected, with Exo commuter train service experiencing weather-related delays and cancellations on the Vaudreuil-Hudson and Saint-Jérome lines. Exo reported disruptions on the Vaudreuil-Hudson line due to a fallen tree near the Lachine garage, causing delays of up to three hours.
Hydro-Quebec deployed over 1,100 workers to expedite power restoration efforts. Environment Canada issued yellow wind warnings for various regions, including Greater Montreal and along the St. Lawrence valley extending to the Gaspésie region.
Meteorologist Simon Legault explained that the strong winds were a result of warm air from Monday colliding with a cold air mass. Wind gusts of 85 to 100 kilometers per hour were expected, with conditions forecasted to improve later in the day.
Environment Canada cautioned about potential structural damage and injury risks from falling debris. In Trois-Rivières, high winds tore off a residential building’s roof, damaging a nearby car but causing no injuries.
While a previous yellow wind warning in parts of the Eastern Townships ended, a snow squall warning was issued for the Outaouais region, the Laurentians, and the Mauricie, with motorists advised to prepare for rapidly changing road conditions.
The same weather system that brought warm temperatures on Monday led to a severe winter storm in Quebec’s Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, resulting in school closures. Despite the storm subsiding, winds continued to impact road conditions, prompting school bus service delays and cancellations.