No relief from heat in coming days
With 30-plus days of sweltering heat, Niagara gardens are scorched and dry
It has been on average about 1˚C warmer than normal, but that doesn’t tell the real story of this summer, says David Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada.
What really stands out is how many days above 30˚C there have been in Niagara, he said.
There have been 20 of those days, compared to just three by this time last summer.
Today and Thursday are expected to add to those 30-plus days, as the high today is forecast to reach 32˚C, 31˚C on Thursday.
“The average temperature is warmer than normal, but it’s not record breaking at all,” he said.
“It’s just the fact that what we’re seeing is a lot of these days above 30.”
It looks like a comfortable long weekend is on the horizon, with a mix of sun and cloud and temperatureshovering between a high of 24˚ C and 28˚C, according to Environment Canada.
Last May, June and July saw 242 millimetres of rain in Niagara. Prior to Monday’s rain, which was welcomed but wasn’t enough to end the drought and related fire ban, just 96 millimetres had fallen.
Phillips said from June 20 to July 24, Niagara only received 20 per cent of the average rain it would normally get.
“For beer-drinking weather, for muscle shirts and tank tops, it’s the best,” said Phillips.
“I live by the water and I see people running into the water. Last year they were tiptoeing in the water.”
But he said while the millennials like their summers warm and dry, Ontario has “never looked uglier than it does now” due to the lack of rain.
“Look at the grass. I’m not sure that grass is going to come back. People have planted things and they are struggling. Irrigation doesn’t do it. You can irrigate, but there’s nothing better than natural rain because it gets the whole field and also provides the field with vital nutrients.
“It gets pretty desperate when you’re hoping for a tornado or a hailstorm because you might get some rain with that.”
Phillips said he expects the temperatures to continue this way, but not quite as warm because August is usually cooler than July.
“When I looked at the models, they showed it normal to warmer than normal, not just warmer than normal, which was May, June and July,” he said.
“We may have, instead of 10 days where the temperature might be above 30˚C, there might be five. It may be 28s and 27s, but not 32s.”
Phillips said models to forecast longterm precipitation can be very weak.
“I look at the next seven days and I only see one day (today) with possible precipitation and it’s a 30-per-center. I don’t even react to 30 per cent.
“There’s no relief on the horizon, but it may come with a new month — a new month may bring new weather.”