Warm & humid week ahead

Storm damage in Winnipeg on Sunday evening. (Photo- CBC News Manitoba)

What a beautiful weekend we had. It was a little of a surprise, as the showers and clouds remained draped across southern New England, allowing Montreal and the St. Lawrence Valley to remain in the warm sunshine with highs pushing 30C both days. The trend of warmth and sunshine will continue this week, however it will not be sunny all the time, as we are looking at an increase in humidity and a risk of showers and thunderstorms by Tuesday afternoon. This threat will continue all week with sunshine in the morning and an elevated risk of afternoon and evening showers and storms. Temperatures will be at or slightly above normal with highs between 27C and 30C (80-86F). Nights will be mild at 20C, but cooler off island with a risk of fog and dew.

It remains very dry across a large portion of North America with several regions reporting drought conditions and a section of the Midwest and southern US plains in a severe drought. Montreal is dry as well with only 90.8mm of rain for July. This is close to normal, but most of that fell in three thunderstorms. We only had rain on 8 of the 30 days in July. A watering ban remains in effect for the southwest Quebec communities of Vaudreuil/Soulanges. This includes Hudson, Valleyfield, St Lazarre and her on L'Ile Perrot. Despite this many in my own neighborhood continue to wash their cars and water their lawns. My lawn and car are both very dusty and in the case of my lawn very yellow.

It was Manitoba's turn to have the severe weather on Sunday. Strong storms swept the southern half of the province knocking down trees and utility lines and cutting power to at least 26,000. The storm also tore a roof from an apartment building in the Winnipeg suburb of North Kildonan. No injuries were reported.