Near record warmth - tornadoes

An all too familiar scene this spring is repeated this weekend across Oklahoma. Below right a tornado late Saturday in western Oklahoma.

It was another wild weekend across portions of the southern plains and Midwest US as nearly 125 tornadoes tore through several states. Some of the hardest hit communities are in western Oklahoma and southern Kansas spilling into Iowa. Woodward, Oklahoma reported all the deaths, 5 in total with hundreds more injured across the state. The storms fired up along a cold front Saturday with the deadliest storms occurring overnight into the wee hours of Sunday morning. The severe weather is part of a larger system that is delivering heavy snow and freezing rain to northwest Ontario including Thunder Bay and Geraldton. This system is also driving warm and humid air northeast into southern Ontario and Quebec today. High temperatures will approach record levels today in Montreal and across New England. Our record today is 28.7C set in 2002. We may just fall short of that with a forecast high of 27C (81F) expected. Highs could be as warm as 31C (87F) today in Boston where the Boston Marathon is being run. Participants have been advised to stay hydrated and pace themselves in the high heat. Runners with any respiratory issues are being told to rethink their participation today.

A cold front will approach Montreal and eastern Ontario late in the day today with some showers and perhaps a thunderstorm possible by late afternoon in Ontario and the supper hour or evening in Montreal. Any storms have the possibility of gusty winds and dangerous lightning. Tuesday will be nearly 20 degrees cooler with highs in the low teens. By the weekend a much stronger system coming up the east coast may provide us with a steady rainfall, which the region needs badly at this time.