Early spring may go down in history as a “real bummer” with its unseasonal chilly temperatures, but Environment Canada says the suffering is over.
Above average temperatures should hit Windsor just in time for the long weekend.
“My gosh, there’ll be muscle shirts and tank tops out there in Windsor-Essex County as people begin to really see great weather,” said Dave Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada. “You can probably plan a golf game right now for Friday and Saturday and not be disappointed. Lately, you haven’t been able to do that.”
Phillips said next weekend will be much different than the one that just passed. The high temperature on Sunday was 9.9 C, which is about 11 degrees colder than normal. It was part of a frustrating chilly trend over the last month.
“Most people are saying ‘come on, what’s up with this?’” said Phillips. “What we’re seeing this April-May is rather coolish conditions.”
But a change is coming, he said.
“This is the time when nature woke up and is going to give us what we see for the rest of the spring as warmer than normal conditions,” said Phillips.
He said the weather will get warmer throughout the week and could even hit 25 C by the long Victoria Day weekend, which is an important one for many people.
“They assume that this May two-four weekend is the beginning of summer,” said Phillips. “So if you’re dealing with conditions that seem more like late winter than early spring, well it’s a real bummer. But what we’re going to see this weekend is a couple of things. We’re going to see lots of sunshine. We’re going to see temperatures that are actually warmer than normal.”
The normal for this time of year is around 21 C. Phillips said there likely won’t be any hot weather records this weekend, but he added that we’ve definitely “broken the back of winter.”
“It’s not a record by far, but my gosh, it’s going to feel like a heat wave,” said Phillips. “What’s interesting is that it’s going to be persistent. It’s not going to be one day here then back into the cold air.”
Phillips said that starting Friday, he doesn’t see any days where the temperature will drop below 20 C before nightfall.
“My sense is there is no turning back,” he said. “This is what we’ve been waiting for.”
