Extreme cold moves into southern Quebec following ice storm

This weekend's freezing rain, high winds and a rapid drop in temperature continues to make getting around difficult for people living in the greater Montreal region and elsewhere in southern Quebec.

• Quebec's icy weather continues into night as temperatures plummet
• WEATHER | CBC Montreal Storm Centre
• Report school closures here

On Sunday, a dangerous mix of precipitation followed by freezing cold made for extremely slick road conditions.

And there's no end in sight for the extreme wintry weather.

Environment Canada has issued extreme cold warnings for many regions across the province.

Temperatures in Montreal will stay below –10 C for the entire week, and could dip as low as –25 C before the windchill factor.

City of Montreal spokesman Jacques-Alain Lavallée told CBC Daybreak on Monday that 2,200 pieces of equipment and 3,000 city workers were deployed in the morning to again tackle the sidewalks and streets.

He said the sudden temperature drop presents a challenge.

"At some point the temperature is too cold for the salt to be effective," Lavallée said.

He said the city would focus on spread gravel rather than salt to help provide traction.

Widespread power outages

The weight of the ice that formed on trees caused many to snap, sending large branches down onto sidewalks, roads and power lines.

At the height of the outages, more than 150,000 Quebecers were without electricity.

Power has been restored to most Hydro-Québec customers, but this morning there were still nearly 10,000 households and businesses in the dark. Hydro crews will work throughout the day to turn the lights back on, said utility spokesman Serge Abergel.

Hydro-Québec has a map on its website of which neighbourhoods are affected and at what time they expect to have the lights back on.

Find out what time the utility expects to restore power by clicking on the voltage sign in your neighbourhood.