Active Weather
A quiet morning across the province.
The Environment and Climate Change Canada alert feed, read at 5:00 this morning Universal time, carries 283 active alerts nationally. None of them are in Quebec. The alerts are held by Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and the Northwest Territories.
Nothing is active in Montreal, Quebec City, the Saguenay, the Gaspe, or anywhere else in the province.
A cold front associated with a low over eastern Canada will cross the region over the next two days, which is the ordinary way early September changes over here.
Infrastructure
The fire season in Quebec is easing. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre's national situation report for September 7 shows three fires under full response covering 36,392 hectares, none of them out of control. A further three are under modified response and 35 under monitored response. No new fires started yesterday.
The season total stands at 651 fires and 753,935 hectares. The province did not report an agency preparedness level in yesterday's national report.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre's national situation report for September 7 puts the national preparedness level at 3 on a five step scale, with 97 fires under full response across the country, of which 21 are out of control, 19 are being held, and 57 are under control. The season total stands at 5,303 fires and 4,484,135 hectares.
Quebec is not sending or receiving resources through the national mobilization system today.
No infrastructure disruptions were identified in the province.
Public Health
No air quality alerts are active in Quebec.
No boil water advisories were identified in the province.
Watch Item
A quiet day is a useful day, and this is the week where the autumn checklist earns its place.
Quebec's defining hazard is winter, and specifically ice. The province has seen ice storms take the grid down across large areas for days at a time, in the coldest part of the year, when losing heat is the actual problem rather than losing light. Everything that makes that survivable is bought and installed in September and October.
There are three items and they are all ordinary.
The first is heat that does not depend on the grid, along with the alarm that makes it safe. Carbon monoxide alarms belong on every level of the home and outside sleeping areas, and they should be tested monthly. An alarm more than ten years old is past its rated sensor life and needs replacing rather than a new battery. Carbon monoxide has no smell and no colour, and the alarm is the only thing that detects it. Any generator runs outdoors only, well away from the house, with exhaust pointed away from windows, doors, and vents.
The second is water. Four litres per person per day for three days is the standard Canadian recommendation. That is twelve litres per person, which for most households is a case of bottles in a closet.
The third is a way to hear official information without a working phone. A battery or hand crank radio costs little and is the thing people wish they had on day two.
There is also a smaller seasonal item. The first frost in much of the province arrives this month, and outdoor water lines, garden hoses, and RV plumbing are all easier to deal with before the first cold night than after it.
None of this has to happen this week. That is the point of doing it on a day when nothing is happening.
Explore Today
The hazard that defines winter here, and the preparation that only works if it is done early.
Staying warm safely when the grid is down in cold weather.
The starting point if you are building household readiness from nothing.