Southwestern Ontario may get a little more rainfall than usual this summer, according to the Weather Network.
It released its forecast for June, July and August Wednesday morning, and Meteorologist Nadine Powell does not anticipate a summer for the record books. Temperatures will be about what residents in this region expect.
"That doesn't mean that we won't have swings where we'll have slightly cooler days and slightly warmer days," says Powell. "But when you look at the average overall, it should come out near normal."
Grand Bend beach. BlackburnNews.com photo by Melanie Irwin
Average highs in Windsor-Essex hover around 25.8 C (78.4 F) in June, jump to 28.1 C (82.5 F) in July and 26.9 C (80.4 F).
In Chatham-Kent, June temperatures are typically 25.5 C (77.9 F). In July, the average high is 27.7 C (81.6 F) and 26.5 C (79.7 F) in August.
London's average temperature for June is 24 C (75.2 F), 27.7 C (81.8 F) in July and 26.5 C (79.7 F) in August.
"It's a little bit more difficult to predict exactly how much rainfall we will get because the amounts can vary and be very localized," says Powell. "But the trend we are seeing is that the overall pattern will be a little bit higher than normal."
Southwestern Ontario's average rainfall ranges from 91.7 mm in London in June to 72.6 mm in Windsor in August.
Across the country, Powell says Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba will have cooler than average temperatures, and the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Maritimes will get more rain than usual.
Globally, she points to one development that has taken forecasters by surprise. After a strong warming El Nino trend in 2015-2016, the cooling La Nina phenomenon is usually short. Powell says instead of lasting several months, globally we appear to be headed right back into a warming trend in the South Pacific Ocean.
She says it is hard to tell if the pattern is the result of climate change since the quick change over from La Nina back to El Nino could be a blip. Global warming is the product of a much longer trend.