Downtown Montreal skyline as seen from Mount Royal on a rainy day.
The Montreal area is under a severe thunderstorm watch ahead of expected rainfall Monday afternoon. The Environment Canada alert covers Montreal Island and Laval.
The Montérégie, Estrie, and Centre-du-Québec regions are also subject to a severe thunderstorm watch, as is Gatineau.
Severe thunderstorm watches (yellow) and rainfall warnings (red) in southern Quebec.Environment Canada
The federal weather agency says it issues severe thunderstorm watches when storms could bring either "large hail, damaging winds," or "torrential rainfall."
Environment Canada has also issued rainfall warnings north of Montreal, in the Lanaudière and Laurentides regions, where between 50 and 80 millimetres of rain could fall.
The agency's hourly forecast for Montreal shows rain beginning by 3 p.m. Monday and continuing into Tuesday afternoon.
