Some of North America's well-known groundhogs may have predicted an early spring, but those of us who know that rodents can't actually predict long-term weather patterns have different notions.
The month of January in Montreal was much warmer than normal — the average daytime high this past month was -2.2°C, which is close to four degrees above normal.
In addition, there were no days in January where the temperature went below -20° at Trudeau airport — the closest we came was at 8 a.m. on Jan. 17, when the mercury dipped to -19.8°.
Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault says we can expect the first few days of February to follow a similar pattern before we see a cooling trend by the beginning of next week.
"It won't be the general trend for the month," Legault says. "This week [the temperature will be] close to normal, but next week it should be a little bit colder than normal."
Generally speaking, though, temperatures shouldn't stray too far from the monthly averages for February — average highs of -3.2°, and average lows of -12.2°.
And for the moment, we're not in the immediate path of any major winter storms, though that could change quickly, as Montrealers are all too aware.
Meanwhile, the extended smog warning that the Montreal area has been under for the last few days is rare, though not unusual — smog days tend to happen during extended periods of clear, cold weather with relatively little wind. But with wind gusts expected on Monday afternoon of around 40 km/h, we may get some relief from the smoggy conditions by the end of the day.