Wednesday, July 17, 2013

More heat plus strong thunderstorms for Montreal

HIGH HEAT & HUMIDITY WARNING
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH
I am not really a big fan of issuing a severe thunderstorm watch so far in advance of the possible activity, but I understand why the Quebec Weather Centre of Environment Canada does it. We have one posted already this morning for western and southern Quebec that will last until 10pm this evening. A watch means conditions are favorable for the development of storms, but they have not formed at this time. A warning would require immediate actions as the storms are on the move. Radar shows nothing this morning in Montreal nor do I expect any activity until much later in the day.

A rather vigorous cold front will be sagging into the warm and humid air that has dominated our weather all week. Highs today should be the warmest of this current heatwave, reaching 32 to 35C (90-95F) across the region. Yesterday eastern Ontario and southern Quebec were in the 31 to 35C range for highs. Montreal just missed the record high on Tuesday by a couple of tenths of a degree at the airport, but easily surpassed it in most other areas of the city. The airport is consistently cooler than readings taken even just a kilometer or two away, it has always been that way. Strong storms will develop later today and persist overnight before ending Thursday. We can expect another warm day Thursday and Friday with more strong storms by mid-day Friday. The weekend looks fair, dry and cooler.

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