Submitted by Bill Caulfeild-Browne
In May the mercury behaved about as normally as can be expected – just venturing two-tenths of a degree above the long-term average. It started out quite cool and it wasn’t until the second week that the mean temperatures got into double digits – only to fall back in the third week, which included two nights where patchy frost occurred. The low for the month was -1.7C on the 18th. Fortunately there was little damage to the spring flowers that had been so encouraged by the warm spell.
The final week felt more like summer than spring. The highs mounted steadily through the mid-twenties, culminating in the highest of the month, 29.2C, on the 31st. It was even hotter back from the lake.
Less celebrated was the lack of precipitation. There were only three rainy days and none of them yielded much. The historical average for the month is 64 mm. but we only got about half that, 34 mm. As I write this on June 4th, we have had no rain since May 20th, more than two weeks ago. There is now a county-wide fire ban, and if the forecasters are correct, there is little relief expected for another week at least.
However – it has been worse. In 2005 only 12 mm. fell on Tobermory – in contrast to the 128 mm. which inundated us in 2004!
The other remarkable thing about the latter part of the month was the lack of wind. Average speeds were 5.8 kms/hr, resulting in a couple of weeks when the lake has been flat calm. In the 25 years I have lived full-time on Big Tub Harbour I have not seen such a succession of glassy calm mornings. The storms that have plagued areas to the east and south of us have left us alone. Let’s hope it stays that way because we don’t want the forest fires that are presently raging across the country.
Please be careful with fire!
