Record Heat

Smog hangs over Toronto on Wednesday as the temperature soared to a record 34.6C. CTV News

Above: In response to a comment left by a reader asking about Ottawa's apparent record high, I just wanted to post the preliminary report made available by Environment Canada this morning regarding the record highs in Ontario on Wednesday.

Dozens of record highs fell once again across Ontario and Quebec yesterday as the temperature rose into the 30's. Ottawa was the warmest in the country at an even 35C breaking the old record of 34.8C set in 1988. Montreal also hit a record high of 32.7C (91F) topping the old one of 32C set in 1988. Toronto was under its second day of a heat emergency reaching a record breaking 34.6C. Other notable locations with record highs were Kingston and Kemptville in Ontario, St Anicet here in Quebec as well as Quebec City and Burlington, Vermont. The record high for Montreal today is 33.9C set in 1953, we have an outside shot at it.

High heat and humidity warnings remain in effect for today across southern Ontario and Quebec including Montreal. The temperature in Montreal is already at a warm 26C up from the "low" of 24C (76F), with temperatures expected to be in the 32 to 35C range and heat index values over 40C. Winds will be light and skies should be sunny but hazy all day. Yesterday we had some convective activity develop late in the day with thunderstorms forming along the St. Lawrence River and drifting south into the border region and upstate New York. Today we will not see any such activity. On Friday a cold front will approach from the west bringing in widely scattered thunderstorms as well as lower humidity and much cooler temperatures for the weekend.