Comfortable summer expected in York Region

Yorkregion.com
June 5, 2014
By Sean Pearce

Following the seemingly endless, cold and snowy winter we endured, you may not want to hear that weather experts are predicting summer 2014 to be on the cooler side, but don’t despair; there will still be plenty of fun in the sun to be had in June, July and August.

Digging out the parka again or booking a tropical vacation won’t be necessary for York Region residents, Weather Network meteorologist Monica Vaswani said, explaining the forecast of “slightly below normal temperatures” simply means instead of daytime highs around the 25 or 26C mark, on average, we may see highs that are a degree or two lower.

You don’t need to fret about 2014 being the year summer forgot, she said.

“This doesn’t mean it’s going to be a drastic, cold summer,” Vaswani said. “It definitely sounds scarier than it is.”

Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson is also on board with the cooler-than-normal consensus for summer.

He, too, advises the label means daytime highs in the mid 20s, rather than the high 20s, and won’t be anywhere near as extreme a departure in seasonal values as was witnessed during the winter.

There will still be heatwaves, with days where the temperature is 30C and above, Coulson said, adding it will resemble a traditional summer.

You can expect a number of temperature fluctuations throughout the summer, Vaswani said, with hot, humid days followed by periods of cooler weather.

This week’s weather, which started on the warm side, turned cool mid-week and is expected to heat up again by the weekend, will likely be similar to what we get all summer, Coulson added.

There are a few reasons for the slightly cooler conditions, Vaswani said.

For starters, the long, freezing winter means the warm-up is a little delayed, she said, adding many of our lakes remain on the cold side, with several popular cottage country swimming spots, including Lake Simcoe, measuring about 5C or so below normal. Another element in play is the El Nino developing in the Pacific Ocean, which affects the Gulf Stream, resulting in cooler temperatures here, but warmer than normal conditions in British Columbia and elsewhere out west.

As for precipitation, Coulson and Vaswani agree that it can be difficult to predict, but the latter anticipates the final tally for York Region will fall in the normal 225 to 250 mm range, while the former expects it could be a little wetter than normal. Both meteorologists concur thunderstorms can yield very unpredictable precipitation patterns, with some areas getting drenched and others receiving almost no rain at all.

“This summer should still be a welcome change from the long, cold winter we had,” Coulson said.