Here comes the best stretch of summer weather so far

It was a very wet Canada Day in Montreal. (Canadian Press Photo)

That was one wet and miserable Canada Day across Ontario and Quebec. Heavy showers and thunderstorms put down 10-20mm of rain across the metro Montreal region, this falling on top of the nearly 140mm that occurred in June.

Other areas had even more rainfall with 41mm in Kemptville, Ontario in less than 24 hours, 53mm at Val Cartier and 72mm in Charlevoix. South of the border flooding was reported in Vermont and northern New York after more than 50mm fell in just a few hours. Burlington, Vermont has had over 1 foot of rainfall since mid-May. The rain did not dampen the spirits of those who attended the main Canada Day events in Montreal and Ottawa but many other municipalities decided to postpone theirs until the weekend.

We are now going to enter what will be our best stretch of summer weather this season. It should not be hard to reach that goal as most of June was damp and cool. Montreal had only two days in June officially above 27C (80F) and that was just barely at 27.1C. We have had only one 30C day this year. The high heat has been confined to western Canada and the southern US, and now even western Europe. High pressure will build into the region today and remain with us through the weekend. Temperatures will start off below normal today with a high of 23C (73F) but will rise into the high 20's over the weekend. By early next week daytime highs may push 30C (86F). It should remain sunny and dry through Sunday.