Blainville, Quebec
The weather has a direct impact on our livelihoods—from our activities and our commutes to our homes and our health. By modernizing our weather-radar network, the Government of Canada is ensuring it can better predict and prepare for weather-related events and emergencies—many of which are exacerbated by climate change. This $95 million investment will ensure Canadian families and industries have more time to protect themselves against the effects of severe weather.
As of October 1, the new state-of-the-art weather radar in Blainville, Quebec, has been operational, replacing the weather radar at McGill University. This is the second in a series of new weather radars being installed across Canada and the first new weather radar in Quebec. The replacement of three additional weather radars across Canada is also underway in 2018, and seven radars will be replaced each year until the end of the project in 2023.
People in the Montréal area will benefit from better and timelier severe-weather warnings—for threatening weather—resulting from the installation of the new, more powerful, state-of-the-art weather radar in Blainville. This new weather radar will provide access to more reliable weather information to help people plan and adapt to a changing climate.
Weather radars are the primary tool used by meteorologists to forecast short-term severe-weather events associated with thunderstorms, tornadoes, ice storms, and blizzards. Equipped with cutting-edge technology, the new radars will provide more frequent updates, and they will have an extended tornado-detection range, giving Canadians greater lead time to take shelter.
Weather information supplied from the radars is also used by key sectors of the economy, which need to adapt to the effects of changing weather and environmental conditions, including transport, tourism and recreation, agriculture, and public health and safety.
The Government of Canada continues to take a leadership role in tackling and adapting to climate change, protecting the water we use, and helping our country—and the world—grow cleaner economies. The world has come to recognize that protecting the environment and growing the economy go hand in hand.