Snowstorms

Most recent MEI value (JJ) was -1.0 which is borderline moderate La Nina. The new value for JA may come in higher as we've seen more progressive cooling across all ENSO regions through-out this month. Further cooling should continue over the next few weeks as a strong trade wind burst is expected next week esp over western ENSO regions. The new MEI v2 uses 5 variables compared to the old MEI which used 6. I prefer MEI as it takes into consideration all ENSO regions compared to ONI.

Heat wave is over for us. Currently 66F with an expected high ~75F today. Got down to 57F last night. Had the windows open, felt real nice.

3.33" this month so far at YYZ but that number is deceiving. 3.1" of that fell in 3 days earlier this month. In reality only 4.2" has fallen since July 12th. Models are showing couple thunderstorm risks tomorrow and the chance for more steadier rain Friday night into Sat morning. Let's see if that verifies. Been dry as hell.

Been a boring ass summer. Barely any severe thunderstorms and the thunderstorms we did get were either late in the evening or at night lol. Even with all the extended periods of dry weather we got this summer, not one day was cloud free. Aside from the extreme heatwave we had in early July, we haven't had anything remotely close to that all summer. The heatwave going on right now isn't anywhere as extreme as that was. Today was the first day all month that Toronto hit 90F lol.

It sucks to live downwind of the lakes especially when you've got Georgian Bay, Lake Simcoe and Lake Huron to your north and Lake Ontario to your south. In the summer, you can never get a full on sunny day because by the late morning, the clouds start rolling in and it becomes partly cloudy until sunset. On the other hand, in the winter, the Sun hardly comes out lol.

A line of strong thunderstorms, primarily non-severe, off Lake Huron this morning literally disintegrated as it approached Toronto late this morning. Story of this summer. It hasn't rained, even a drop, since August 4.

Nina winters with some NAO blocking are epic, i.e. 55-56, 64-65, 70-71, 95-96, 08-09 and 10-11.

They've made masks mandatory in all indoor settings including apartments and condominiums (public areas). Gyms and fitness centers finally opened up after being closed for nearly 5 months. I believe they're contemplating on keeping that US-Canada border closed until December.

We received nearly 4" of rain these past 3 days. Did not see that coming. Now to enjoy some nice sunshine and seasonal temps for the rest of the week. Toronto was under a tornado watch today. Second time this year, pretty crazy.

Got ~25mm yesterday in my area with that storm cell. Better chance this weekend for some more widespread thunderstorms. We'll need to watch the "tropical" storm coming up the east coast and where it tracks and how it interacts with the low coming in from the Midwest. That will determine where the thunderstorms develop over the weekend.

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.