Submitted by Bill Caulfeild-Browne
The month started out with frost and -2C and stayed cool for the next ten days. Then we got a week of the warmest weather of the month when the mercury climbed into the low twenties. The 13th yielded a high of 23.5C and it seemed summer was imminent. The jeans came off and the shorts went on.
Alas, it was not to last. By the 19th we were flirting with frost again; 2.2C on Big Tub and just 1.2C at the airport. Then on the 26th warmth returned briefly with highs in the low twenties – just for three days. May ended downright cold with fresh north winds and a high of only 10.6C on the 31st.
The ups and downs averaged out and the mean temperature for the month was in-line with the long-term mean of 9.1C. The rollercoaster was repeated across the province. Ear Falls and Timmins recorded 32C and 31.4C respectively in the warm spell, while a few days later Tillsonberg set a new freezing record of -4C on the 20th.
Precipitation was 41mm, drier than the average of 64mm – and much less than the 128mm we received back in 2004. But northern Ontario was very dry. Kenora, for example, had only 9% of its usual precipitation. This implies a high fire risk and continued lower water levels in Lake Huron.
Guidance from Environment Canada suggests “a warmer month than normal for all provincial regions”. I think we could use it.
