The last week of summer & a Leslie wrap-up

Just some of the images in the aftermath of Leslie in Newfoundland.

Here it is folks the last full weekend and week of summer. I am still walking my dog every morning in shorts. It has been a challenge on a couple of mornings, but for the most part I continue the streak that started some time in late April. The mornings have been a little chilly with temperatures around 11C to start the day. The dew has been heavy and the extra few hours of darkness have been giving the lawns a break from the hot and dry summer. I am seeing a little life as things start growing again. It is a sad irony that we are probably less than 1 month away from a heavy frost that will end the growing season in many areas. It does remain dry in southern Quebec with less than 50mm of rain for the month. It has been a dry year in Montreal with no one month reporting 100mm (4 inches) of rain. Even last weekend when many areas had heavy rainfall in eastern Ontario and southern Quebec, Montreal managed a paltry 10mm.

The forecast looks great for today and most of Friday with warm sunshine and high temperatures well above normal at 28C. A cold front will usher in showers and thunderstorms late Friday and set the stage for a more fall like weekend with clouds on Saturday and sunshine Sunday. Highs will be around 20C both days.

A Newfoundland Power lineman inspects damage from Leslie. Power was out to nearly 100,000 homes. (Keith Gosse, The Telegram)

Tropical storm Leslie is all but gone, well on her way across the Atlantic, now as a post tropical storm. The system brought heavy wind damage to portions of southeast Newfoundland with flooding and heavy rain to central portions of that province as well as Nova Scotia. The strongest winds were reported at Cape Pine with gusts of 137km/h, close to hurricane force. The winds tore town trees, power lines, ripped siding from home and overturned trucks. The arrival of Leslie at low tide meant that coastal damage from the pounding surf was minimal. During the height of the storm power was out to over 100,000 homes, but a hard working Newfoundland Power team has since restored nearly all of that with only isolated pockets still affected. All power should be back online by the end of the week.