Cold weather is the news
Cold weather is the news of the day. CTV reports that some activities are cancelled (beware loud commercial autoplay) although I’ve seen indications that Igloofest will go on; the mayor is expressing concern for the homeless; notes on keeping your house warm.
Saturday morning, Quebec pulled a record amount of current to face the arctic temperatures. (Or so the headline claims, but the text mentions the true record from February 2023.)
Mark Côté 19:53 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
Hydro outage in NDG going on 8.5 hours
Kate 20:51 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
Cold day for that to happen. Hydro-Quebec map right now shows patches of NDG and most of Côte St‑Luc is dark, and a patch of TMR as well, all with a vague promise of power being “gradually restored”.
Mark Côté 21:05 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
On FB Hydro said power might be out all night for some customers :_(
12 degrees Celsius in my lower duplex right now.
Mark Côté 21:06 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
Although to be fair that’s 36 degrees warmer than outside.
Kate 21:22 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
Yikes, Mark.
I’m flattered you’re using up a bit of your charge to come read the blog, though.
jeather 22:40 on 2026-01-24 Permalink
13,000 people in CSL and NDG without power, and on Reddit posts people say they hear not before noon tomorrow
https://montrealgazette.com/news/power-outage-hits-15000-homes-in-cote-st-luc-amid-arctic-cold-snap
Mark Côté 11:08 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
Around 9 pm last night the Hydro app changed the estimated time for restoration at my address from 10:15 pm to 2:15 pm Sunday. I booked a local pet-friendly hotel, packed up the cat and a few supplies, and headed over. Breakfast this morning seems to be mostly people in the same situation. I popped back home this morning to check on the taps and it was a crisp 5.5 degrees.
Kate 13:08 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
Glad to know you and your cat have a place to go, Mark.
Mark Côté 13:47 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
And updated to 8:15 am tomorrow.
Chris 15:22 on 2026-01-25 Permalink
Mark, leave your water running a small stream, so your pipes don’t freeze.