THE 1900-1909 DECADE

March 1^st, 1900

The 20^th Century begins with a winter storm dumping more than 46 cm of snow in the Montreal area (55 cm over two days, on March 1^st and 2^nd), something never seen before in March. March 1900 is a particularly snowy month with a total of 118 cm being reported, i.e. nearly 4 times the monthly average.

May 4^th, 1907

The Ottawa region has to deal with lingering winter conditions with a storm bringing 19 cm of snow. Montreal will eventually meet a similar fate 56 years later, on May 10^th, 1963 with 21,8 cm of snow (a total of 25,4 cm on May 10^th and 11^th combined).

THE 1910-1919 DECADE

May 29^th, 1914

Very dense fog conditions are responsible for the collision between the "Empress of Ireland", a Canadian Pacific liner, and the "Storstad", a Norwegian coaler near Rimouski. More than 1000 people die in less than 25 minutes.

July 30^th, 1917

Nearly 140 mm of rain are received in 18 hours, resulting in a flood for more than 16 000 residents living along the Chaudière River. Ninety-eight buildings and a bridge are swept away by the current while 56 km of railway are made useless.

THE 1920-1929 DECADE

A Rainy Decade

The province of Québec is struck by a high number of heavy rain events and floodings. Figures for the year 1924 are astounding with three major storms respectively occurring in early September (75 to 200 mm - Mauricie, Charlevoix and Eastern Townships), in October (150 to 175 mm - Parc des Laurentides) and in late November (60 to 100 mm - Eastern Townships and Mauricie). November 1927 is also an exceptional month with respect to floods across southern Québec with record monthly precipitation in excess of 300 mm, i.e.more than three and a half times the monthly normal values.

THE 1930-1939 DECADE

September 15^th to 18^th, 1932

Between 100 and 200 mm of rain fall in the Lower Saint-Lawrence area, Charlevoix and Saguenay regions.

December 29^th, 1933

Record cold temperatures are observed over southern Québec with overnight lows of minus 34^° C in Montreal and minus 39^°C in the Ottawa region.

THE 1940-1949 DECADE

December 29^th and 30^th, 1942

Regions in extreme southern Québec receive between 20 and 50 mm of freezing rain with 50-60 km/hr winds.

THE 1950-1959 DECADE

A Warm Fall Season

In Dorval, the fall season of 1953 is the warmest since the beginning of the weather observation program with a 6,5°C average temperature, i.e. more than 3 degrees above the 3,4°C normal temperature. The record still holds today despite the exceptional conditions of 1998.

The August 1957 Drought

That month is considered as the driest in the history of the Greater Montreal area. Only 2,1 mm of rain are recorded in Dorval and as little as 0,6 mm at McGill University's weather station over the whole month.

THE 1960-1969 DECADE

February 25^th and 26^th, 1961

The Montreal area is paralyzed by one of the worst ice storm in its history. Wind gusts reaching 130 km/hr at times coupled with 30 mm of freezing rain are responsible for damages estimated at nearly 7 million dollars. It takes many days to restore power.

The End of 1969 Heavy Snowfall

With 70 cm of snow in 60 hours and a death toll of 15 people, the December 26^th to 28^th, 1969 snowstorm is one of the worst to ever happen in southern Québec.

THE 1970-1979 DECADE

March 4^th, 1971

It is quite a memorable storm that hits southern Québec dumping 50 cm of snow along its path. Most remarkably, snow is accompanied by wind gusts in excess of 100 km/hr, which leads to the formation of impressive snow banks.

June 5^th, 1979

Severe thunderstorms with large hail sweep across the Laval area causing an estimated 2,5 million dollar loss to vegetable and apple producers in that area.

THE 1980-1989 DECADE

February 1981

n exceptional thaw in February 1981 is identified as the main cause for a mortality rate above 15% among apple trees across southern Québec. During that month, daily high temperatures reach values ranging between 10 and 18°C over eight consecutive days and buds start growing. That abnormal warm trend is followed by an outbreak of intense cold temperatures.

1985, 1986 and 1987: Lots of Hail

Three exceptional hail events occur in southern Québec. The first one is recorded on July 29^th, 1985 in the Montérégie region (3,5 million dollar damages to crops), the second one on May 29^th, 1986 in the Montreal area (up to 8 cm diameter hailstones and 70 million dollars in damages) and the last one exactly one year later on May 29^th, 1987.

July 14^th, 1987

A series of severe thunderstorms bring torrential rains in the Montreal area, flooding basements and key road arteries in a matter of minutes. Over 100 mm of rain are recorded within two hours in Downtown Montreal.

THE 1990-1999 DECADE

A Rather Hectic First Half of Decade

The Maskinongé Tornado of August 27^th, 1991 subsequently dubbed "The 27 Seconds of Terror" leaves in its wake 15 injured people, 100 persons without shelter, 90 destroyed buildings and miraculously no one killed. Its intensity is estimated as F3 (winds between 180 and 330 km/hr). Less than three years later, a tornado with a similar intensity hits the city of Aylmer near Ottawa, opening an 8 kilometer long by 300 m wide track of destruction across a residential area. Fifteen people are injured, 284 buildings are partially or completely destroyed and damages amount to more than 5 million dollars..

The Saguenay Deluge of July 1996

Torrential rains fall in Saguenay, Lac St-Jean, the upper North Shore, Charlevoix and the Parc des Laurentides. Rainfalls ranging between 100 and 275 mm cause extensive flooding. Many thousands of people are forced to evacuate their homes. Compensations to flood victims are estimated at more than 800 million dollars.

and what appears to be the most significant weather event of the 20th century

The historical Ice Storm of January 1998, which lasted over five days from January 4^th, left between 40 and 100 mm of freezing rain especially in Montérégie. Over 3 million people found themselves left in the cold and the dark for days, sometimes even weeks. Many people died of respiratory poisoning while making unproper use of outdoor heating devices. Compensations for damages associated with the storm are estimated at 1,4 billion dollars.