Icy roads make commute treacherous
Bridges leading to island most troublesome spots
Montreal police are urging motorists to keep their distance from other vehicles because of hardto-see patches of black ice as this week’s numbing cold snap is forecast to end Saturday afternoon.
“We haven’t reported an increase in accidents (in the city), but we are asking that motorists pay more attention,” said Constable Simon Delorme.
It was a tough commute for many motorists as snow that fell overnight Thursday turned to slick ice Friday.
Off-island, authorities said that black ice did cause problems for some motorists.
“We’re seeing many accidents and cars sliding off the road,” a Transport Quebec spokesman, Yves Kirouac, said. “It’s because, at these temperatures, salt and sand have almost no effect.”
Kirouac said bridges leading to the island were the most troublesome spots Friday morning, because condensation and freezing from lakes and rivers added to the already slick roads. There were several reports of accidents on the Île-aux-Tourtes and Gédéon Ouimet bridges.
Several highways were also affected by accidents.
Highway 20 East in the Turcot Yards was down to one lane about 8 a.m. due to a five-car pileup.
The merge between Highway 15 and the eastbound Ville Marie Expressway was closed Friday temporarily morning following an accident.
On Friday night, Hydro-Québec did not report any blackouts on Montreal Island, but the utility did advise customers to again reduce electricity usage after the province came close to busting its all-time power consumption record.
At 5:15 p.m. Thursday, power use peaked at 38,750 MW, just shy of the record of 38,797 MW set Jan. 13, 2013.
Hydro asked people to turn down their heat a couple of degrees, refrain from using dishwasher or washer/dryer, turn off unnecessary lights, shut off Christmas decorations and limit hot water use between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday night.
Temperatures in Montreal dipped to minus 23 degrees Celsius on Friday morning, far from the record for the day of –33.5 C set in 1981. Environment Canada meteorologist André Cantin said that’s because cloud cover over the city held the warmer air in overnight.
However, some areas of Saguenay, the Gaspé Peninsula and BaieComeau broke records on Friday morning.
In Roberval, the temperature only reached –40 C, shattering the record set in 1981 of –36.2 C.
In Bagotville, it was a record –40.6 C, compared with the old record of –35.6 set in 1974.
In the Gaspé Peninsula, Mont Joli shattered a 33-year record with its low of –34.7 C, compared with –28.4 C. Gaspé reached –33.4 C, compared with the old record of –27.3 C, set in 1994. Baie Comeau saw temperatures dip to –37 C, compared with the old record of –31.7 set in 1974.
Cantin said the weather will warm up over the weekend, with a mixed bag of precipitation for Monday morning.
“We’re expecting about 10 centimetres to fall in Montreal, and it will change to freezing rain or rain as the temperatures warm up on Monday,” he said.
The high on Saturday is expected to reach –12 C. It will get up to –4 C on Sunday and reach the freezing mark on Monday before the temperature plummets again to –12 C on Tuesday.