Record heatwave moves east

New Yorkers flock to Coney Island Beach in triple digit heat.

The story continues to be sweltering temperatures from the deep southern US across the Ohio Valley and Middle Atlantic and into the Great Lakes, Northeast, Ontario and Quebec. Excessive heat advisories and humidex warnings are in place across two provinces including Montreal and at least 20 states as temperatures are generally expected to settle in between 32 and 37C (90-100F) today. That includes Montreal at 32C, we are already at 23C, Toronto at 36C and Windsor/Detroit at 37C. There may be a little relief in the form of a thunderstorm especially in southern Ontario and Quebec. Some relief is on the way for our region as temperatures moderate into the weekend with an outside chance of showers and thunderstorms. Montreal is looking at daytime highs around 28C through Sunday. Looking ahead at the middle and end of the month, it looks like more of the same, hot and dry. The heat is forecast to surge into the west next week with southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba hitting the mid 30's.

Montreal has been lucky, thunderstorms have helped to keep our rainfall totals at decent levels with 20mm this month and 74mm in June. Meanwhile Toronto has had only 11mm since June 11. The heat has proved deadly in many locations with two dozen deaths blamed on the weather in the US. Heat emergencies are in effect in many major east coast cities and some municipalities remain without power after last Friday's storms.

Flooding from Wednesday's storms in Burlington.
(Glenn Russell - Burlington Free Press)

Just a final not on the Wednesday night thunderstorms in Quebec and Vermont. The storm that produced 83 km/h winds in Montreal raced south of the city as a bow echo. Basically this is a line of thunderstorms shaped like a C bowing out in the middle with very strong and sudden winds. The gusts up over 110km/h tore down trees, capsized boats and flattened corn fields from Lacolle and Hemmingford southeast into Champlain, NY and across northern Vermont and into Burlington.