Tie on your hats! After a month of January below seasonal norms, February promises to be one of the coldest recorded in more than a decade.
“We’re really not done with the intense cold. Arctic air will descend on us repeatedly, fairly consistently. We should have the coldest of winter in the second week of February,” warns Patrick Duplessis, meteorologist at MétéoMédia.
After a slight respite next week, the temperature will drop below -20 degrees Celsius again.
“There are going to be a few nights below minus 25, and that’s the temperature on the thermometer, without the wind chill,” underlines the meteorologist.
We have to go back to 2015 for such a cold February. It then averaged -15.2 degrees Celsius, or 7.5 below normal.
A long and cold winter
The month of January ends with cold and snow.
Last Saturday, the mercury dropped to -25.1 degrees Celsius on Saturday, a week ago, -37 with the wind chill.
Since the start of winter, 148 cm of snow has fallen in Greater Montreal, or 30 cm more than normal at the end of January.
“The snow started early, in November. It accumulated and we kept it,” points out Simon Legault, meteorologist at Environment Canada.
People have short memories because it’s only been seven years since winter was this long and cold, in 2018-2019.
Towards a loading record
The City of Montreal has already carried out five snow loading operations and is heading towards a record since there are on average five operations per winter.
The budget for snow removal for the year 2026 is $205.7 million, indicates public relations specialist Guillaume Rivest.
The final costs of the last two snow loading operations have not yet been fully accounted for, but the City estimates that all operations carried out to date represent approximately $130 million.
Last year, the winter was exceptionally mild with no day where the temperature was below -20 degrees Celsius.
There had been four snow loading operations in Montreal, among other things to collect the snow left by the two successive storms in February, which left more than 72 cm in four days.
During the entire winter, 198 cm of snow fell.
More snow than normal*
2026: 148 cm (as of January 29)
2025: 75 cm
2024: 108 cm
2023: 172 cm
2022: 81 cm
2021: 105 cm
Normal: 119 cm
*as of January 30
Source: Environment Canada
