Osheaga's lone weatherman is the calm amidst the festival storm

Montreal Gazette

01-08-2025

Music
By
When Jean-Charles Beaubois attends Osheaga, he observes the music festival from a unique vantage point.
He's not among the throng of fans who congregate annually on Parc Jean-Drapeau, and he's also not one of the countless people rushing behind the scenes to make it all happen.
Beaubois carries a lot of responsibility nevertheless: as the festival's go-to meteorologist, he watches all the action solo from inside his air-conditioned truck a stone's throw away from the main stage where The Killers, Tyler, the Creator and Olivia Rodrigo will be performing this weekend.
'With the weather forecast we're expecting, I think I'll be able to go out and see the site this time,' he said. 'That doesn't always happen.'
Although he sounds enthusiastic about venturing outside his mobile station for a quick peek of live music, the co-founder of MétéoGlobale talks about the weather the way a wristband holder might beam about the last Gracie Abrams record.
His headliners? Heat and precipitation.
'The ideal scenario is knowing what weather is coming 48 hours in advance,' he said about the process of prepping Osheaga production with a weather report. 'But it's 36 hours before where organizations really need a precise forecast.
'And it's about adapting to conditions. We don't stop if it's a storm. We don't stop if there's rain. It's really about minimizing the consequences of weather by being prepared.'
Rainfalls, Beaubois said, can come on quickly when the temperature drops, and it's hard for even experts in his field to always anticipate them. But they can also pass just as quickly as they arrive.
From inside the truck, Beaubois tracks everything from clouds to wind strength on three screens. There's also a colour-coded card to determine the severity of any weather conditions.
So how bad does it have to get before festival organizers, based on his recommendation, decide to stop the show?
'We have different criteria based on the size of the event, but there are two main things we look out for that poses problems,' he said. 'It's heavy wind and it's thunderstorms. Those are the two really undesirable weather conditions.'
The bigger the size of the fest, the harder it can be to pull the plug.
'When we're talking about 30 artists or so on stage a day, it's harder to manage. It can be stressful for us because we wouldn't take recommending a cancellation or postponement lightly,' he said.
And if there's a decision to cancel, it usually comes after hours of discussion with organizers, so they're prepared in case there's a need to evacuate. And the festivals themselves will always make the final call, but Beaubois said if he has done his job right, the decision is usually pretty clear.
Last year's edition was muggy but manageable, with rain dotting the weekend. Beaubois said the weather during the lead-up to the 2024 fest caused more problems than it did on the weekend itself.
'We got 200 millimetres the day before. We knew it was coming the Monday, so we were able to plan ahead and be ready for the weekend, even if they lost a day of preparation.'
Beaubois's company has a team of five travelling meteorologists, and they provide weather forecasting across the province along with French-speaking countries France and Belgium. Events big and small can include the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix and marathons to city planning and transport.
His profession sometimes takes him to fun fests like Osheaga. But sometimes it also means telling a city how much salt they should buy for their streets.
From Beaubois's seat, this weekend's forecast looks promising: some clouds and moderate temperatures. Perfect conditions, he said, but just in case Mother Nature has other plans in store for festivalgoers, Beaubois will continue to man his all-important post behind the main stage.
'Festival organizers have so much to worry about when putting on an event of this magnitude. That's why we're here, to be their eyes and not look away from the weather screens.'