Firefighters attend to an injured person on René Lévesque Blvd. near the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal Jan. 24, 2017.
(A list of many services that were closed or running behind schedule appear here)
The forecast called for snow. Lots of it.
But instead of the white stuff, Montreal got hit with possibly the worst alternative when freezing rain caused havoc with morning traffic and turned city streets into skating rinks.
Even Environment Canada was caught off guard by the freezing rain which started early Tuesday morning, just in time for the rush-hour commute.
How bad was it?
Well, the Montreal Canadiens had to cancel their morning skate in Brossard, even though they probably could have held power-skating lessons in the arena parking lot.
Elsewhere, Canada Post prudently gave their letter-carriers a day off, Urgences Santé told people to stay at home and police asked drivers not to call 9-1-1 for minor fender benders. (Police reported 187 accident calls between 5 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.) Bus schedules were disrupted, and there were numerous automobile accidents in and around Montreal, which led to highway closures.
Robert Michaud, a meteorologist at Environment Canada, said the forecast for Montreal had called for a dump of more than 25 centimetres of snow.
“It was supposed to be the reverse, snow at first and then freezing rain after that,” said Michaud. “(The freezing rain) was supposed to stay south of the border . . . but it started as freezing rain over the Montérégie, and then it blasted the whole forecast for us.”
Michaud said between 5 to 10 millimetres of freezing rain fell, followed by 7 to 8 centimetres of snow. “It was a mixed bag,” he said.
Streets and sidewalks, which had been relatively dry, quickly became treacherously slippery.
City of Montreal spokesperson Jacques-Alain Lavallée said 400 vehicles were deployed to tackle the icy streets and sidewalks early in the morning. The city later bumped that number to 1,000 as conditions changed.
“The job was done properly,” Lavallée said. “Due to the (changing) conditions, it was not an easy one, but that has been the case the last couple of years.”
Lavallée said city crews endeavour to adapt to sudden turns in winter weather by shifting tactics from applying abrasives to snow clearing.
“It’s not something cast in stone,” he said. “It’s something we try to adjust because Montrealers are entitled to receive the best service we can provide them.”
Related
Montreal’s bike path was awfully slick during a freezing rain storm Jan. 24, 2017.
Salting the streets was a dangerous affair in Montreal on Tuesday morning, Jan. 24, 2017.
