MONTREAL — About 316,000 Quebec homes and businesses were without electricity before noon after heavy snow knocked down trees, forced school closures and created hazardous road conditions.

Environment Canada says a low pressure system that started Sunday brought a mixed bag of rain, freezing rain and snow to southern Quebec.

The province's hydro utility says the fall snow collected on tree leaves, weighing down branches that snapped and fell on power lines.

The Montérégie region south of Montreal was most affected, with more than 100,000 clients without power as of late morning.

The Montreal, Centre-du-Québec and Lanaudière regions also had tens of thousands of people in the dark.

Snowfall has created slippery road conditions before the province's Dec. 1 deadline for drivers to instal

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