Environment Canada issued heat alerts Tuesday for most of southern Ontario, with temperatures expected to reach the low 30s throughout the rest of the week, making this one of the longest heatwaves so far.
鈥淚t鈥檚 all about the heat and the drought,鈥� Dave Phillips, senior climatologist at Environment Canada, told CTV News Channel. 鈥淲e鈥檙e clearly seeing very little precipitation here in the east and that makes the conditions worse.鈥�
According to Phillips, Aug. 10 will mark the driest 100 days in the Toronto area on record, going back to the 1930s. High temperatures and humid conditions are expected to continue into Friday, with only minimum nighttime relief. Morning temperatures may briefly reach the low 20s and areas surrounding the Great Lakes may see a small breeze.
鈥淚t鈥檚 almost as if they鈥檙e seeing too much weather and we鈥檙e not seeing any,鈥� said Phillips. 鈥淲e need the rain that the west has and they need the sun and the dryness of the east.鈥�
Western Canada has rotated through record amounts of rain, thunderstorms, tornadoes, funnel clouds and even hail while eastern Canada has been wishing for relief from the heat.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e seeing is five days in a row with temperatures above 30,鈥� Phillips said. 鈥淯p to this time we saw two days here, three days there鈥� it becomes more of a health issue.鈥�
However, a chance of showers and a moving cold front on Friday could give some relief to the heat and humidity in time for the weekend, and according to Phillips, the start of a cooling down period for eastern Canada.
According to Environment Canada, the high temperatures and humidity stem from a returning air mass from the United States. Humidex values are expected to rise above 40 in some areas.
Alerts have been issued for:
