Close To Normal But With Cool Winds
Submitted by Bill Caulfeild-Browne
June was just a half degree below normal temperature, which was typical of much of the southern half of Ontario, though some heat records were broken. Pearson Airport, for example, had two consecutive days over 35C, a rare occurrence. We got nowhere near that – our high was 27.2C on the 25th, though it may have been warmer away from the lakeshore. Our low was 5C on the 4th.
Sunshine was plentiful. We had only two truly dull days, offset by 16 mostly sunny days and 12 days when it was clear from dawn until dusk. But fairly persistent winds from the northwest made it feel cool.
Rainfall was also normal, thanks to three storms. The first was on the 6th and delivered 20 mm and the second on the 15th gave us 16 mm. The third was a violent thunderstorm that seemed to hang around Tobermory for several hours during the evening of the 28th. One lightning strike was so close to my home that the thunder shook the entire building.
Elsewhere in Ontario the storms caused serious damage. There were EF-0 rated tornadoes in several areas just north of Lake Ontario. These events are clear indications of climate change – in the past we just didn’t get tornadoes in Ontario as frequently as we do now.
July has started out cool; let’s hope for some reversion to the mean for the next couple of months.
