Published January 21, 2026 at 10:53 PM
Winter will reclaim its rights in a brutal way this weekend. A portion of the polar vortex will leave its usual area to plunge towards Quebec, bringing cold that some regions haven’t experienced in over ten years.
In brief:
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The epicenter of global cold will be positioned over Quebec this weekend;
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Glacial Saturday: highs struggling to exceed -20 °C and wind chills reaching -35;
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daily cold records (highs and lows) are threatened.
Why is the vortex visiting us?
The polar vortex is an area of glacial air usually confined to the top of the globe by the jet stream, which acts as a barrier. However, the current atmospheric configuration has weakened the jet stream, allowing it to undulate strongly.
This imbalance allows a piece of the vortex to detach and slide south. It is this mass of Arctic air that will invade Ontario and Quebec, placing us directly in the line of fire of the hemisphere’s most intense cold.
Saturday: the heart of the cold over Quebec
The drop in mercury will begin in the northwest of the province with a loss of about ten degrees between Thursday afternoon and Friday afternoon. But it is indeed truly on Saturday that the heart of this air mass will be over the province.
Several Records Within Reach
The intensity of this cold is remarkable. If Montreal records a maximum around -22°C on Saturday, as our forecast indicates, it would be the coldest day in the metropolis since 2013.
