Submitted by Bill Caulfeild-Browne
July was a scorcher, particularly the first half of the month. On the ninth the mercury climbed to 32.2C on Big Tub Harbour – the warmest I’ve recorded since 1996 when my station was established. This is not a record for Tobermory – back in the 1930s there were several days in June and July when temperatures exceeded 36C. And of course, away from Lake Huron temperatures might have been higher than at my station.
The second half of the month was a bit cooler – highs in the low twenties – and a low of 12.3C on the 21st. The month as a whole was 2.0C above the long term mean. Given the mild winter we had, this is shaping up to be a warm year.
Precipitation was also above normal. We got 90 mm. of the wet stuff against an average over the years of 60 mm. It fell in just four storms. The most rain came on the 19th, 23.4 mm.
As can be concluded from the temperature, it was a very sunny month. There were only four days with appreciable cloud and none where we didn’t see the sun at all.
We were lucky here. There were severe thunderstorms and even tornados to the south of us and some very wet weather to the north, but our peninsula missed most of it. This is likely due to the stabilizing affect the cool lake waters have on hot air masses. Still, the “cool lake waters” were not all that cool – they reached 21.1C at the Gap by the end of the month.
August has started out cool, windy and cloudy but it looks as if summer will re-establish itself soon.
