Toronto, GTA in historic rain drought with 'abnormally dry' conditions

Citynews.ca
Aug. 17, 2022
Lucas Casaletto

Toronto and the GTA are amid a rather historic rainfall drought as dry and humid weather conditions continue this month.

CityNews meteorologist Jill Taylor says that for August, only 18.2 mm of rain has been documented at Toronto Pearson, with most of it falling on August 4.

Data collected from 1980 to 2010 shows that the average August rainfall at Pearson is 78.1 mm.

The Canadian Drought Monitor (CDM), viewed as Canada’s official source for the monitoring and reporting drought in the country, shows that Toronto and most of the GTA, including Mississauga and Brampton, are graded as Abnormally Dry (D0).

Surrounding cities, including Barrie and London, are classified as Severe Drought (D2), while Windsor falls under the same abnormally dry designation as Toronto.

“Areas west of Burlington and north of Orillia are listed as Moderate Drought (D1) and a pocket of Severe Drought (D2) for the Kitchener area and Sarnia,” Taylor says.

The CDM uses a variety of federal, provincial, and regional data sources to establish a single drought rating based on a five-category system. CDM classifications include Extreme Drought (D3) and Exceptional Drought (D4).

Canada’s weather agency says that the current conditions are expected to improve by the end of the month, with the CDM predicting a “drought removal” through its forecasted monthly outlook.

The Canadian Drought Outlook predicts if drought across Canada will develop, stay the same or improve by the end of the target month.

Toronto could see some rain mid-week with a 30 per cent chance of showers on Tuesday evening. Sunny skies are expected on Friday.

Ontario sees slow forest fire season a year after record-setting fires
The Ontario government says forest fires had dwindled dramatically this year compared with last year when fires tore through a record amount of land in the province.

Evan Lizotte, a fire information officer with the Ministry of Natural Resources, says there have been 179 fires this year, which have burned 2,416 hectares of land.

He says that’s compared with more than 1,000 forest fires and more than 782,119 hectares burned by the same time last year -- the most land burned on record in Ontario.

Lizotte says forest fires are driven by weather, and cyclical patterns of warm temperatures followed by significant and widespread precipitation have mostly kept them in check this year.

Drought conditions last year made the ground three or four times more receptive to lightning strikes that could spark fires; meanwhile, some regions had snow into May this year.

Lizotte says it’s not uncommon to occasionally see slower forest fire seasons, noting that was also the case in 2014, 2008 and 2004.

He said the 2022 forest fire season began in April and is set to continue through November.