Welcome to meteorological summer in Montreal

Slightly-cooler and less-humid air has arrived on northeast winds in Montreal. A much-needed general rainfall is expected early next week across eastern Ontario and southwest Quebec. (AccuWeather)

The official start of summer is still three weeks away, on June 20 at 6:34am, at least according to the planets. Today however, we welcome meteorological summer. Weather forecasters and nerds like myself must have things in neat little compartments when it comes to statistics, so the year is divided into 4 seasons, each consisting of 3 months. Welcome to June, July and August, summer 2016 in Montreal.

It certainly has felt like summer over the last week, after a very slow start to spring. We remain sunny and warm today at 26C (79F), but very dry in southern Quebec. Montreal received only 33.6mm pf rain for the month of May, way below the normal of 82mm. We also had a trace of snow for good measure. It is exceptionally dry, and many regions of southern Quebec, Ontario and New England are asking residents to conserve water. Also, outdoor fires are becoming problematic in extreme southern Quebec, where the fire risk remains elevated. This, hopefully will change during the next week or so, as cooler weather and rain are expected in Quebec from Sunday into early next week. We have a chance of showers along a cold front Thursday and Friday, but they will be spotty. Temperatures will remain rather warm, 25C (77F). The cooler weather and rain will arrive Sunday. That scenario is still a few days out, and the forecast will likely require some fine tuning as we get closer.