Labour Day, the unofficial end to summer in Montreal

A tranquil weather moment from the heavens as the clouds part at sunrise this week in Montreal. It has been a challenging summer as far as the weather is concerned from coast to coast, with searing heat for some, drought, fires and floods for others. The increasing strength of the current El Nino is sure to make this fall and winter forecast just as challenging to say the least. (Valley Weather)

Labour Day weekend is upon us, typically the unofficial end to summer. This was more of a reality in my youth, as the weather typically turned cooler much quicker and school rarely started until after the last long weekend of the summer. Things has changed considerably these days as most schools are already back in session, and summer warmth tends to drift well into September and in some cases even early October. 

The weather this weekend looks ideal for outdoor activities. Scattered showers are possible Saturday as a stubborn upper level low remains to our northeast, but the day should not be a washout. Sunday and Monday will feature nothing but sunshine, with daytime highs rising into the middle 20s and overnight lows in the low teens. 

You can definitely feel summer slipping way as the longer nights tend to produce a heavier dew in the mornings, as well as fog in places. Overnight low temperatures can easily find their way into the low teens. The trees are also beginning to respond to the shorted amounts of daylight, which typically begins the leaf changing process, despite how warm it is.

It was Toronto's turn this week to join Montreal and Ottawa in the summer of the flood. A powerful thunderstorm on Wednesday afternoon resulted in close to 140mm of rain falling in less than one hour, flooding residents, highways and underpasses across parts of the city. (Toronto Tourism) 

Toronto's 100 Year Storm

It has been the summer of fire and flood across Canada. You can now add the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to the growing list of communities impacted by significant flash flooding events. Powerful thunderstorms on moved southeast off Lake Huron Wednesday afternoon, racing across the Toronto and Niagara regions and into western New York.

The storms produced widespread wind, hail and flooding, resulting in significant damage  as well as power outages to more than 150,000 homes and businesses. Wind gusts were observed up to 91km/h at Brantford and 83km/h at Pearson Airport. Major damage was reported at Rogers Stadium. Hail as large as 2.5 to 6.5cm punched out windows in homes and cars in North York. Several motorists had to be rescued after 139mm of rain fell in Caledon, with 133mm at Vaughan. A tornado was reported near Bamberg, northwest of Kitchener.

Severe thunderstorms on Thursday resulted in significant damage across this east Windsor, Ontario neighbourhood. (Photo: @onlocation.tv)

On Thursday another round of strong thunderstorms moved across southeast Michigan into the Essex/Windsor area. The powerful storms and possible tornado tore the roof off at least one home spreading debris across the east Windsor neighbourhood. Large, mature trees were uprooted, many landing on homes and cars or blocking streets. Once again large hail and torrential rain fell as well. The Northern Tornadoes Project out of Western University in London will be investigating the storm dame Friday. They suspect based on radar and reports from neighbouring Detroit, that two tornadoes may have impacted the area between Windsor and Amherstburg.