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A rare confluence of circumstances is required for freezing rain to develop: precipitation falling in an area where a layer of warm air is sandwiched between two layers of cold air.

The bad news: Montreal is one of the most freezing-rain prone regions in North America. The worse news: climate change may make ice storms more frequent — and more drawn out.

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That means we may yet see a replay of the extraordinary 1998 Ice Storm, which plunged half of Quebec into darkness, in some cases for weeks.

Twenty years later, is Quebec’s power supply more secure and are Quebecers better prepared for weather disasters?

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A remarkable amount of freezing rain fell in southern Quebec between Jan. 5 and Jan. 10, 1998. In some places, 110 millimetres fell, double the normal annual total.

Unable to withstand the weight of the ice, Hydro-Québec structures toppled like dominoes, taking with them wires carrying electricity. The tally: 1,000 steel pylons and 24,000 wood poles damaged, and thousands of kilometres of power lines downed.