When talking to visitors or out of town tourists planning a visit to Ontario’s northern regions I often get questions about temperatures and what clothing to pack in order to stay comfortable. It seems some people think that the temperature abruptly changes once crossing the border between Canada and the United States. The change is rarely immediate but changes in latitude obviously affect the temperature; the farther north you go the cooler the temperatures get.

Sometimes this north-south effect is overridden by patterns in the atmosphere. During the last week, a ridging pattern has had a strong hold on central North America and as a result warm and humid weather has prevailed. Airflow in this ridge has produced a humidex (feels like warmer temperatures) of 90*F (32*C) to 100*F (38*C) from Thunder Bay to areas north of Armstrong.

It looks like a return to near seasonal temperatures will occur over the weekend and continue into early next week. The rest of the week and into the proceeding weekend are likely to bring another round of warm temperatures but with less humidity. It has been a relatively wet summer so far and any forecast with a mention of showers and thunderstorms sounds like ‘more of the same’. Yes there will be showers and an occasional thunderstorm but thankfully less than we have become accustomed to!

Stay cool,
Graham