It has been a scorcher this weekend, with daily high temperatures peaking at just shy of 30 C.
Greater Sudbury parks were active with people taking advantage of these warm temperatures, which meteorologist Henry Fung said broke known records.
Friday’s temperature peaked at either 29.6 C or 29.9 C depending on which local weather station is followed, while Saturday’s temperature hit 29 C.
The previous record for Sudbury on May 13 (Friday) was 27.7 C in 1991, and Saturday’s previous record (May 14) was 24.8 C in 1998.
The Toronto-based Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist told Sudbury.com that seasonal fluctuations in temperature are par for the course at this time of year, although greater this year than any other time on record.
At the time of this reporting on Sunday afternoon, the temperature was 26.8 C, which exceeded the previous record of 24.8 C recorded in 1998.
By contrast, the record low recorded on Friday was 12.9 C, which far exceeds the record low of -3.2 set in 1996.
This weekend’s heat wave “was because of a strong ridge of high pressure bringing warm temperatures from the midwest in the United States to northeastern Ontario,” Fung said, adding that it helped that it was also sunny out.
With a low humidity, he said it didn’t feel as warm as it might otherwise felt.
The weekend’s temperatures also fell short of necessitating a heat warning being issued by Environment Canada, he said, which requires two straight days with highs of at least 29 C and a low of at least 18 C.
Temperatures are expected to cool down on Monday to a high of 18 C, which is near that day’s average of 17.5 C.
“More fluctuations” will follow, Fung said, pointing to highs and lows throughout the balance of the forecast, but nothing approaching what Greater Sudbury experienced this weekend.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
