This is a video compilation showing a vigorous area of low pressure that became a historical snowstorm (in recorded history) that produced the most snowfall within a single day.
This incredibly dynamic system produced a strong line of severe thunderstorms, and accompanied tornado outbreak across the U.S. South and SE, leading to several fatalities and dozens of damaged homes. At the Northern and NW peripheries of the system, heavy snowfall and strong NE to NNE winds created dangerous blizzard-like conditions for the U.S. NE, as well as for E. Ontario through to much of S. Quebec, especially into the St.Lawrence River Valley. Weather models initially were predicting total snowfall amounts at 15-21 cm for S. Quebec (Montreal included), but the newest runs had shown "minimum" amounts of 25-30 cm, especially with respect to the North American Model (NAM).
Snow began falling over the island of Montreal at about 2:45 a.m. EST on December 27th and began falling heavily (rates of 3 to, at times, close to 4 cm/hour, as shown by radar imagery).The most intense snow fell from 2:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST (see radar imagery provided in video). Winds were gusty from the NNE to NE but were especially gusty in Montreal's West Island at 56-63 km/h (sustained between 38-43 km/h), mostly for the early/mid-afternoon period, quickly generating tall, impervious drifts of snow and snowbanks, as well as reducing visibility to or near 0. By the end of the day, snow became so abundant that it was virtually impossible to access our driveway and park space behind the building, and we then had to resort to creating temporary park spaces on the lawn in front of the building until snow-removal units arrived.
This video shows various points of the day in which heavy snowfall had been observed, concluding with various clips of the aftermath. Total snowfall amounts have yet to be fully tabulated but will likely be close to 50 cm (a little more than one and a half feet) by the early-morning of December 28th. At the very most, the total single-day snowfall from this storm has exceeded those from December 27th, 1969 and March 4th, 1971, where 37.8 and 43.2 cm fell, respectively. However, the ~59 cm that fell with the approximately two-day storm of December 1969 (from Boxing Day to the early-afternoon of the 28th) still remains as the largest "total" snowfall to occur from a "single storm" in Montreal.
All footage was taken from SW Pierrefonds, located in Montreal's West Island.
Thank you for your time and viewing.
~Trav.~
