TORONTO – There’s no denying it: it’s been cooler than normal for the past few weeks in Toronto.
On Thursday, the city seemed to be under a chill: People across the city donned fall coats or sweaters as temperatures peaked at 18.4 C. With a low of 11.5 C, the mean temperature for the day was a measly 15 C.
In fact, Toronto broke a record for coldest daytime high: the previous record was 19.4 set in 1963 and 1979 (records from Pearson only go back to 1940).
But it’s all about perspective: a high of 18 C in April and Torontonians would be walking around in shorts and sandals.
READ MORE: The past two months have been warmer than average. Honest.
Still, it’s fair to say that the city hasn’t seen such a low summer high like that in a few years. In 2013, the lowest high temperature the city saw in August was 20.3, with an average high of 26 C. In July the lowest high was 21.5 C.
“We had this upper low that basically came down from Hudson’s Bay and parked itself over southern Ontario, and it’s just taking forever to leave,” Peter Kimbell, meteorologist with Environment Canada explained.
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Aside from that one day, however, the average temperature for August has been bang-on at 20.6 C. Yesterday’s cool temperature was the coldest daytime temperature since June 5.
“I think this is a little bit of a setback, but we shouldn’t define summer like this” said David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada. “Although, clearly, July was cooler than normal, and August has been better than July, but not right now. But, hey, it’s not over.”
Cooler July
After near-normal temperatures for the months of May and June, July did indeed prove to be cooler than normal for the city.
In Toronto, preliminary data from Environment Canada shows that the average temperature – taking in account both the highs and lows – for July was 20.2 C, which is below the normal median temperature of 21.5.
So, does that mean that Canada can expect a colder than normal winter? Phillips said that’s not necessarily the case. “You just can’t tell.”
“People think fall is here, but no, no: Fall is not here,” Phillips said. “We still have more than a month to go astronomically and there is some promise that things will improve.”
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