The 1998 Ice Storm versus the 2026 Ice Storm that just hit Montreal

Comparing the ice storm of 98 to 2026 Montreal

After personally going through the 1998 Ice Storm – a powerful storm with freezing rain that intensified across Montreal and much of Quebec on that Wednesday evening, nearly 90,000 addresses lost power across Quebec at one point, with about 20,000 affected in Montreal. Even a section of the REM service was suspended on that evening at the time because of the weather conditions. The winds were still extremely intense. Lights flickered on and off, with some other areas experiencing just short power outages.

However, the recent Ice storm we experienced here does not compare to the January 1998 Ice Storm – for those who were around at that time, you know what I mean! That storm was one of the most severe natural disasters in Canadian history, leaving Montreal and the surrounding regions under thick ice for several days, causing widespread power outages, fatalities and massive infrastructure damage.

photo by J. Jensenius – http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/noaa_products/noaa6198.htm, Public Domain,

By J. Jensenius – http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/noaa_products/noaa6198.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=494301

I remember the storm. It struck Montreal with a vengeance, and much of Southern Quebec from January 5th to 10th in 1998 experienced a series of five successive ice storms of which also affected eastern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and parts of the northeastern United States.

Montreal experienced persistent freezing rain, which accumulated up to 100mm of ice in some areas, coating trees, power lines, and roads. This event was not a single storm but a prolonged series of storms lasting over nearly a week! I was lucky, as most of my family was able to find refuge at another family member’s house, which happened to be on a grid which kept us warm and safe. Yet, having experienced it myself, it was scary with the winds blowing close to hurricane strength!
    

As for last week’s 2026 Ice Storm, with freezing rain in the Greater Montreal area on that Wednesday, residents and travellers were advised to be on high alert. There was about 20 to 30 millimetres of freezing rain, and some areas experienced power outages. Areas affected included Greater Montreal, Montérégie, Outaouais, Laurentians, Lanaudière, Mauricie, Centre-du-Québec and the Quebec City region. At around 10:05 pm, power outages affected more than 100,000 customers. Hydro-Quebec reported 100,993 homes without power.

2 inches of ice on a twig photo by J. Jensenius – http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/noaa_products/noaa6195.htm, Public Domain,

Montreal-Est had at least 3,158 households without electricity, followed by Dollard-Des Ormeaux at 2,565 and Baie-D’Urfé at 1,367. Around 8:45 p.m. Tens of thousands in Quebec were without power. The Montérégie region was the most affected, with more than 38,000 homes without power. The Montreal region had close to 16,800 homes without electricity. Freezing rain occurred over southwestern Quebec, then moved east, finally calming and ending.

Bottom line, literally, climate change is real!

by Bonnie Wurst

lead photo By NormanEinstein – Based on data from Environment Canada., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=544770

Ice storm in Ottawa photo by Meet Sejpal

By: Bonnie Wurst – info@mtltimes.ca
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