Summer Wrap Up 

It’s all up to you……..did we or didn’t we get a summer? 

As there are always two sides to every story, it makes sense that some people may have actually liked the outcome, rain does help vegetation after all.  But let’s get into the numbers, the statistics and the details so you will have something to back up your complaints.

First off, when I talk about the summer, I may use different start and end dates from what you are used to.  Based on Astronomy, summer starts on the Summer solstice (this year was June 21^st) and ends on the autumnal equinox (this year will be Sept. 22).   

I will reference the summer as June, July and August which is commonly referred to as meteorological summer.  This is common among meteorologists and climatologists for many reasons.  One of those reasons is the ability to quickly compare numbers, averages and extremes from one year to the next and to what is considered normal/seasonal.  So, we might as well do this.

From June 1^st to Aug. 31^st 

Rain:

This year   /   Normal  / Last Year / Record

299 mm  / 228.2 mm / 396.2 mm / 396.2 mm

We also broke 2 records for most rain in a single day.  Those days are June 20^th with 14.4 mm and July 23^rd with 31.4mm.

August is typically our wettest month and this year was no different.  We saw 144 mm of rain through August which is close to double the normal amount.  It wasn’t record breaking though.

It wasn’t really just how much rain we received; it was the frequency in which we had it.  Out of 92 days, we got at least showers (trace amounts) during 46 days.  On average during the summer we have 32 days with rain.  You do the math and it works out to be showers or rain every second day.  The longest stretch of dry weather was only 5 days. 

Once again, it wasn’t the total amount of rain, just how often it rained……..and in short the answer was a lot.

Temperatures:

July is typically our hottest month with the highest amount of days above 30 C.  This year……..not so much.  June and July would be considered as seasonally cool but August was pretty close to normal.  Over all, the summer was cooler than normal and we didn’t break any records for daytime highs.

Over all, the average high for the 3 month period was 24 C but it certainly didn’t feel like that for many.

Severe Weather:

Every year, southern Ontario has its share of thunderstorms.  In fact, across Canada, Ontario has the highest frequency of thunderstorms each year.  Unfortunately, Ontario also has the highest amount of tornadoes each year.  I’ve heard southern Ontario referred to as Canada’s Tornado Alley and each year we average 11 tornadoes.  We had the seasonal average in one day this year on August 20^th with 13 tornadoes.  Four of these tornadoes were rated F2, seven were F1 and 2 were F0.  The last time we had more than 2 tornadoes that were F2 or higher was May 31, 1985.  Much of the destruction was just north of the downtown core as dozens and dozens of homes were completely destroyed.  Aug. 20 will go down in history as one of the most devastating severe weather outbreaks in Ontario.  With 13 tornadoes, Aug. 20^th is just 1 tornado short of having the greatest number of tornadoes in a single day.  That record is Aug. 2^nd, 2006 with 14 tornadoes with 2 rated F2.

The greatest number of tornadoes in one year is 29 in 2006 and once again the seasonal average is 11.  So far this season our total stands at 22 and that number could indeed go up.  Severe weather isn’t bounded by meteorological summer, the summer severe weather season will continue until early October.

Summary:

This summer turned out to be seasonally cool and seasonally wet.  (Cooler than normal and wetter than normal)  We only had 3 days at 30C or above compared to 11 days on average and yes we had rain or showers close to half of the time.  The hottest and wettest month was August, with 144 mm of rain and 2 days above 30C.

Chris Potter