More records: ‘Forget spring. It’s almost like summer’

Windsor enjoying its warmest February week on record by a fair degree

With three broken records and two more likely to fall from unusually warm weather, Windsor is basking in its warmest week in February in the 77 years that data has been kept.

“You have clobbered and smashed the previous records,” Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips said Wednesday. “Forget spring. It’s almost like summer.”

By noon Wednesday the temperature at the Windsor airport was 15.4 C and it had climbed to 16.5 C by 3 p.m. which easily beat the 1984 Feb. 22 record of 12.4 C.

Wednesday followed recordbreaking highs Saturday and Sunday when Windsor was the warmest spot in Canada and Phillips said Windsor could break records that have been kept since 1940 on Thursday and Friday. It is really unusual weather, Phillips said.

“You break records by a tenth of a degree not by four or five or six degrees. This is just like a different world.”

Saturday kicked off the recordbreaking warm spree when a high of 19.1 C smashed the previous record for Feb. 18 of 12.9 C set in 2011. Sunday’s high of 17.9 C beat a 1994 record high of 14.2 C for Feb. 19.

It was so warm on the weekend, butterflies were seen fluttering about at Point Pelee and Ojibway which proved to be a record early sighting for some naturalists.

Don’t put away those snow shovels yet since last year Windsor had snow in May and 20 per cent of the region’s snow usually falls after March 1, Phillips said. And a week of abnormally balmy weather in February doesn’t mean winter is done or that the spring and summer will be hot.

“This is a teaser. This is false spring,” Phillips said. “It’s almost like the movie trailer, the weather trailer for spring.”

It’s also too early to know if this will turn out to be good or bad, he said. It should slash your February heating bill and golfers were elated to get on the links early but if there’s extra insects or rodents this spring and summer and if there is damage to budding plants, this week’s joy may fade, he cautioned.

Thursday’s high is expected to reach 17 C which would beat the 15.8 C record from 2000. The forecast for Friday is a high of 15 C and showers.

The temperature is expected to drop by the weekend with a 60 per cent chance of showers Saturday and a cloudy Sunday with a high of 4 C.

NICK BRANCACCIO Kelsey Holland takes her two-year-old daughter Adrieonna Dodge-Hollard for a spin on a playground ride on Matchette Road near Malden Park on Wednesday, when Windsor temperatures soared to a record high of 16.5 C. The warm weather will continue for at...

TYLER BROWNBRIDGE Tulips in Jackson Park have begun to sprout after almost a week of unseasonably warm weather in Windsor. The Environment Canada forecast calls for increasing clouds Thursday with highs near 18 C.