Snowstorms

As of yesterday, YYZ is at 80.2F for the month. This type of extreme long-lasting heat is unheard of at our latitudes (Buf and Tor). If I'm not mistaken, I believe 1921 is also the hottest July ever recorded in Toronto. We averaged 78F in July 1921. Factor in today and tomorrow and we'll likely be running more than 3-5 degrees above the previous records lol. Has Buf ever hit 100F?

Had a crazy thunderstorm rip through the area dropping an inch of much needed rain couple mins ago. Some parts of mid-Toronto got ~2 to 3" of rain. A Tornado watch is currently in effect for Toronto proper as the storm cell is showing signs of rotation. Crazy!

Same here in Toronto expect for Monday where we only maxed out at 88.3F. Otherwise, it's our 7th straight day ~90F. At this rate, July 2020 could be the hottest July ever recorded in Toronto and I reckon it's the same for Buf.

Up to 87F already with dews around 65F. Toronto parks looking like a hay field and still no consistent rain in sight.

Need some serious rain. Only 0.3" since June 10th. Spring was dry too. Grass is literally toast out here.

For Farmers, this current pattern isn't great. After a cold and dry spring, a dry summer would be terrible. But for anyone who enjoys the great outdoors including camping and BBQing or likes to spend time at their cottage, then its amazing! But because of Covid-19, people can't really do much so in many ways, this summer sucks.

Had a pretty sweet thunderstorm roll through the area last night. I'm disappointed I couldn't get out and grab some nice shots as I was busy with some work. There was frequent cloud to cloud lightning. Some areas reported nickel sized hail too. Had a few non-severe thunderstorms early this morning too.

Now that May is over, still can't believe it's June 1, here's some stats from YYZ. Avg H: 63.1F Avg L: 44.2F Mean: 53.7F - 1.8F below avg. Maximum high: 87.8F Maximum low: 23.5F Total precip: 1.70" (Avg is 2.93") Overall, it was a relatively dry month with a lot of extremes transitioning from winter earlier in the month to summer near the end lol. But I guess that doesn't seem unusual when you take a step back and realize it's 2020.

It was snowing across much of the region literally 2 weeks ago. Most of us broke records with consecutive sub-freezing lows. 2 weeks later, we're all sitting in the 80s. Our climate fluctuates so much, it's hilarious. I don't know what to say anymore. Models show a pretty decent cool down for this weekend with expected lows in the 40's, for us in Toronto at least. That's a crazy drop in just a few days!

Env Canada has this chart if you scroll down near the bottom. https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/seasonal-weather-hazards/warm-season-weather-hazards.html#toc7 Humidex is flawed imo.

It's just a measure of how hot the average person feels. It combines temperature and humidity into one equation. Relative humidity is defined the same way as NWS would define it. Humidity on it's own is defined as how much water vapor is in the air. I feel Humidex is flawed compared to the heat index and bit too extreme but that's just my two cents.

It was snowing less than 2 weeks ago with with lows ~23F. It's currently 86F with a humidex around 97F. Skipped Spring and went straight to Summer. We finally hit 70F for the first time a few days ago and today it's close to 90F. These next 6 days will put us within ~0.5C of our monthly average for May. It's even crazier when just a few days ago we were sitting 6C below normal.

Finally hit 70F as of 11am today. Only took until May 22.

It's May 19 and we have yet to crack 70F here. The last time it was 70F was back in early October. I feel you. . Just a few more days of this crap.

You and @mississaugasnow both live in the wrong country if you expect constant blowtorches and heatwaves. We got spoiled with above average May's from 2010-2016 raising our expectations for May temperatures. But to be fair, what we're seeing this weekend and into next week is typical weather for May. I think it's time you take a trip down memory lane and look at other May's like 2008, 2005 and 2002 just to name a few. All of them expect 2008 transitioned into a hot summer despite being well below normal in May. We only average 12 days above 20C in May. There's still 15 days left and we've had one officially at YYZ so far. May is NOT a summer month for us.

A/C? My heat's been on since mid October.

The ONI is more widely used to categorize ENSO events, but I prefer MEI as it takes into consideration more variables. The 2010-11 La Nina was the last strong Nina event. The coldest anomalies were centered around Region 1+2 and 3 as opposed to Region 4, atleast in the beginning. So there is a chance we could see a pretty healthy La Nina event if the upwelling continues. Haven't dug deep into this year's ENSO event but will be doing so over the next few weeks. Your posts are always informative, great work!

Based on your last post, the latest 20C ever recorded at UW was May 14, which was yesterday. I'm assuming you haven't cracked it yet which makes way for a new record this year. It's only 12:30 pm, so there's a good chance UW can crack 20C if the Sun comes out. That would further increase instability for potential pop-up thunderstorms this afternoon. I'm assuming you're a fan of torches, so this is probably the worst kind of weather for you. What a shitty year.

It finally cracked 60F. This is the warmest temperature we've seen since May 3 in Toronto. Sunny day tomorrow with a high around 68F. We have yet to crack 70F lol. Shit climo

On a side note, we're seeing some pretty impressive sub-surface cooling across the ENSO regions which continue to make there way to the surface thanks to an eastward propagating oceanic Kelvin wave. Looks like another strong easterly wind burst is on the way and if this persists through-out the month and into June, it'll aide in the rapid development of a La Nina. If we transition into a La Nina much sooner rather than later, we could be looking at a warm summer across much of the region along with a potentially active hurricane season. Let's see!

Got down to -3C (26.6F) last night at YYZ breaking the old record of -1.7C (28.9F) set back in 1967. 7 sub-freezing lows this month after going nearly 2 decades without one. After 5 consecutive days with highs in the 40's, we've finally cracked 50F, and hopefully for good. Still below normal for today and tom tho. Above avg temps begin after the long weekend.

YYZ recorded 1.1" yesterday. May 2020 is now the snowiest May ever recorded at YYZ. That brings our winter total up to 56.1". Fookin crazy! Got down to 25F last night breaking the previous record of 28F set back in 1939. History has been made. Now it's time for summer.

I agree. Rare to see this type of cold in May especially at night. We'll likely dip to ~25F tonight if skies clear up. Going to look into that. Remember in some winters we saw our first measurable snow by mid October. I think our earliest ever would have to be in 1965-66. First measurable snow: Oct 28, last May 12 = 197 days. Edit: Second half of May 1966 was much warmer and we seem to be on the same path this year. Also a Nino year, albeit much stronger.

What a time. I suspect YYZ will come in ~1.5cm for today. I doubt we'll beat May 1976. I remember at the end of April, I was a bit frustrated we couldn't crack 140cm (55.1"), as we fell short by a mere 0.8cm at YYZ. As of yesterday, we were only 0.4cm away and after today we'll likely cross 140cm. YYZ will end up recording more snow in May than April. Don't think that's ever happened even going back to 1840. 2020 is on a serious roll. I wouldn't be shocked to see snow in June, or even worse, as early as September.

The most May snow ever recorded at YYZ was 2.3cm back in 1976. Prior to that, you'd have to go back to May 1923 where Toronto recorded 3.8cm (1.5"). I doubt we'll beat May 1976 even with the potential clipper snow. A majority of the precip will likely fall in the afternoon and daytime heating won't allow for any accumulations. Unprecedented times were living in. On a side note, let's not forget the records we broke back in early November. Rare to see that much snow and cold temperatures so early in the season.