2025 ranked as the tenth warmest year on record in Quebec. Several significant weather events occurred this year. Many of them are in keeping with the climate change that has been projected in the province. The first half of the year was warmer and rainier on average than normal, while autumn brought us a drought.
A year punctuated by extreme weather
A winter of contrasts
Winter 2025 was the fourth warmest recorded in Quebec, with an average temperature 4.2°C above normal from 1981 to 2010. However, due to the wide disparity in snowfall across the province, some areas were buried in snow while others went without, particularly in February.
Major snowstorms occurred in southern Quebec and dumped more snow than normal on Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Outaouais, the Montréal area, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and the Lower St. Lawrence. In February in Montréal, two consecutive storms rolled in with 72.4 cm of snow accumulation, equalling the record dating back to 1898.
The winter of 2024-2025 saw several weather events that are representative of the expected changes in Quebec. In addition to unusually warm temperatures, winter storms brought precipitation in more heterogeneous forms (rain, ice, snow), causing increasingly irregular snow cover on the ground.
A very rainy spring in some places
From March to May, the average temperature was 0.3°C above the 1981-2010 normal across Quebec.
Spring was rainier in southern Quebec. In March, partial but rapid snowmelt combined with heavy rainfall resulted in several major landslides, particularly in Central Quebec and near Lac Saint-Jean.
In April, the Gaspé mountains received nearly 150 mm of rain—three times the seasonal normal. Heavy precipitation also affected Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the Laurentians, Mauricie, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and Chaudière-Appalaches, with 90 to 135 mm of rain (up to 150% more than normal).
Spring 2025 was in keeping with the precipitation and temperature projections.
A summer of droughts and heavy rain
Summer 2025 began with a heat wave and three tornadoes. July was particularly hot. However, in some regions, more frequent thunderstorms brought much more rain than normal, causing major flooding. Conversely, August was very dry, with intense heat and no prolonged rain in some areas, particularly in the south of the province.
In Summer 2025, the entirety of Quebec was marked by abundant rainfall, exceeding the seasonal normals in 1981-2010. Paradoxically, while some regions suffered intense droughts, others were hit by episodes of heavy rain, sometimes causing flooding.
Higher fall temperatures
Fall 2025 was characterized by a lack of precipitation and high temperatures. Although this season is usually less conducive to forest fires, drought conditions contributed to the prolongation of this climate-related phenomenon.
Despite early snowstorms in November, the thermometer was still above seasonal averages. Southern Quebec experienced its first snowfall on November 10, with precipitation of up to 20 cm in some areas.
Trends in recent decades clearly show that autumns are warming in Quebec, particularly in the southern part of the province. Fall 2024 was the warmest ever observed across Quebec, closely followed by Fall 2023.
A climate in transition: Trends in 2025
Extreme precipitation with marked impacts
The spring freshet did not cause major flooding this year. However, episodes of flooding occurred outside of this usual period of high water levels.
In July, after several dry weeks and above-normal seasonal temperatures, several regions saw flooding due to heavy rainfall. Montréal and Québec City were particularly hard hit with more than 70 mm of rain falling in a few hours.
The consequences of these events included road subsidence, overflowing rivers and landslides, causing serious human harm and material damage. Tens of thousands of households were affected or left without electricity and several outdoor festive events were cancelled.
Stormwater flooding and high water levels caused by heavy thunderstorm precipitation are increasingly common in the summer and fall. The spring freshet will be earlier by the end of the century and will vary more by region.
For more information on these phenomena, discover the pages High water and flooding and Extreme rainfall
Much more intense heat waves in 2025
Early this summer, a first heat wave affected the Montréal, Montérégie, Lanaudière, Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec regions. In July, several localities again suffered an eight-day long heat wave, particularly Laval, Montréal and Longueuil. From July 26 to 29, a new episode of extreme heat, less intense than the previous one, affected the Ottawa River Valley and Montréal’s north shore.
August was also marked by the most severe heat wave ever recorded in Quebec, according to the INSPQ, which lasted four consecutive days with temperature thresholds being exceeded in every region of the province. Attribution studies of this heat wave showed that it was significantly more likely due to climate change. In other words, human influence has made this type of heat wave 2 to 10 times more likely.
For more information on heat waves disover the page Heat waves
A prolonged and atypical fire season
In Quebec, the fire season was less intense than in other parts of Canada. This season countered the usual trends, as a very wet spring limited the number of fires to three to four times below average, but in the fall, there was an exceptional increase in fires due to a persistent drought. A total of 558 fires were recorded in the province’s intensive protection area. 70% of these occurred late in the season, from August to October, with the late increase mainly due to the lack of rainfall. For the first time, an open fire ban was issued in October. The northern protection zone experienced half as many fires as the average.
Across Canada, the area that was burned in 2025 was the second largest on record in Canadian history, after 2023. Although the number of fires decreased, their intensity increased significantly due to weather conditions that were particularly favourable to maintaining them, i.e. high temperatures and very dry weather. The smoke from these fires greatly reduced air quality in several regions of Quebec and even reached as far as Europe.
For more information on forest fires, discover the page Forest fires
In short, 2025 confirms once again that Quebec is affected by the acceleration of climate change. Record-breaking heat waves, extreme rainfall, a late fire season, flooding outside the normal season: all these events testify to a rapidly changing climate and disrupted seasonal benchmarks. The observations align with scientific projections and remind us of the urgent need to strengthen adaptation and community resilience, given the expected upsurge in these events.
