Eastern Canadian blizzard of March 1971

Blizzard event

A coastal low-pressure system, called a Nor'easter, developed across the coastal United States late on March 3, 1971. The system rapidly intensified as it moved towards the Northeast United States as well as Quebec and eastern Ontario. The storm centre had a rapid pressure drop to 966 millibars (966 hPa; 28.5 inHg) while it was centred over New York before moving across New Brunswick exiting the province of Quebec during the morning of March 5.

Snow started across most of the affected areas on March 3 with the peak of the storm during most of the day on March 4 where for a period of up to 17 hours there was at least moderate snow and blowing snow in Montreal. Visibility was also significantly reduced for nearly 24 hours. The 47 centimetres (18.5 inches) received makes it one of the heaviest snowfalls on records for Montreal with the 43 centimetres (16.9 inches) received on March 4 being the snowiest day on record.

Elsewhere across Quebec, 80 centimetres (31.5 inches) of snow fell in the Laurentides Wildlife Reserve north of Quebec City while 65 to 75 centimetres (25.6 to 29.5 inches) of snow fell locally in the Gaspésie, Bas-Saint-Laurent and Eastern Townships regions south of the Saint Lawrence River. Up to 40 centimetres (15.7 inches) fell in the Ottawa and Quebec City regions. The heavy snow was accompanied by damaging wind gusts of near hurricane-force, which created snowdrifts of up to two stories high in some places. Widespread power outages were reported and some were left without power for up to ten days. The city of Montreal was left paralyzed following the storm for a few days. Bus service was stopped: snowmobiles and the Montreal Metro were the easiest transportation options possible throughout the city, while bridges and roads were completely shut down. For the first time in over 50 years a Montreal Canadiens National Hockey League game at the Montreal Forum was postponed. Seventeen people were killed in Montreal while there were several other injuries related to the storm. Fatalities were resulted by heart attacks or people stuck inside stranded vehicles. At least two people were killed in the Quebec City region and at least 30 fatalities were reported province-wide. It took at least 36 hours to clean up the worst of the storm and to resume regular traffic although snow clearing operations lasted for several days. Initial damage estimates were at about $1 million (1971 dollars) for central Quebec including 50 homes that received roof damage. Businesses also sustained window damage some due to flying debris particularly in the Limoilou area of Quebec City.