The unusually mild temperatures and sunny skies Montreal has enjoyed the last several days are about to come to a very abrupt end: Environment Canada has issued a freezing rain warning for most of southern Quebec, and there's a good chance of snowfall as we look to the beginning of this week, too.
Starting after midnight, freezing rain and ice pellets are expected to fall across Greater Montreal and into the Eastern Townships, creating very icy conditions on roads and sidewalks past lunchtime on Sunday.
Further north, the Laurentians and the Outaouais are expected to see snowfall instead.
The precipitation will switch to regular rain as the temperatures crests above freezing for the afternoon, but by Monday a powerful winter storm will have arrived over southern Quebec from the Great Lakes.
All the freezing rain and eventual snow will be punctuated by strong winds, with gusts up to 50 km/h on Sunday and 80 km/h on Monday.