Ice storm still expected
Things don’t look too dire Wednesday morning, but media still promise a good old ice storm by midday. Schools are closed, media are decorating their stories with photos of the April 2023 storm, and we’re told to stay home and given tips on preparing for the crisis.
A recent Reddit thread is titled What will society be like after the ice storm?
jeather 09:00 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
It’s pretty icy on the ground, though.
MarcG 09:08 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
They laid out some pre-emptive salt in my hood.
Kate 09:48 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
The ice doesn’t look like much but I just watched a neighbour labouring mightily to get his windshield clear of the stuff.
jeather 11:36 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
Really? Took me only seconds to get ice off my windows, though I was (for once) smart and lifted my wipers overnight. (Ice is also not so difficult as snow because worst case you just turn the car on and the heat will melt it quickly.)
Kate 12:35 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
The ice hacking across the street was so noisy inside my place that I went out to see what was going on.
jeather 12:45 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
That’s very weird. I believe you, but it’s still weird.
Kate 13:36 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
Possible that we got more iced up here in Villeray?
jeather 15:17 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
Had to clear it again and it was much louder but it was still very fast and not difficult.
CE 15:48 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
This afternoon I took the metro from downtown to Jean-Talon metro. Downtown, there was no ice, up north, the first thing I saw when coming pout of the metro was a bus shelter completely covered in a layer of ice.
Blork 16:11 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
So far (as of 4:00PM) we’ve got almost nothing over here in Longueuil (at least in my neighbourhood). It’s been raining off and on all day, but hardly any is icy. There’s about 1mm of ice built up on some surfaces, but there’s nothing visible on tree branches, although the cedars are starting to get a tiny bit on their foliage. Still a few hours to go though…
MarcG 16:18 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
Looking at the radar images my uneducated impression is that the worst part of it is about to arrive…
Kevin 18:18 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
I was looking at radar all day. Definitely much heavier on the northern part of the island and the Laurentians. Candiac may have had no ice at all.
Uatu 19:02 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
Like clockwork the REM broke down again. Waited outside in freezing rain for a shuttle bus. Just got home after leaving work at 5pm. Ugh.
Ian 20:02 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
I heard the trees creaking as I came home but no transformers popping off just yet. Environment Canada says the worst is yet to come, though. The streetlight across from me looks like it has had a chandelier installed.
Blork 20:07 on 2026-03-11 Permalink
Jeez, it’s +3 C right now at my place. That wasn’t supposed to happen until about 2:00AM.
MarcG 07:50 on 2026-03-12 Permalink
I couldn’t sleep last night with the constant sound of ice being blown off of wires and tree branches and smashing on the ground. Had a few scary blue-flash-and-kabooms (transformers, fuses?) earlier in the evening.
Blork 08:31 on 2026-03-12 Permalink
I thought I had escaped it, but I woke up in the middle of the night with the power off. It’s still off, with no indication of when it will be back. 🙁
EmilyG 10:41 on 2026-03-12 Permalink
I also woke up in the middle of the night with the power off. It was back on when I woke up, though I don’t recall exactly when that was.
Joey 11:00 on 2026-03-12 Permalink
Walking the dog around 8:30 last night would’ve gone better if I had skates on. Every surface was perfectly slippery ice. By this morning it had all been chopped up and make crunchy, presumably thanks to the city. No complaints other than the dog doesn’t like to go on hard, icy surfaces.