A long week of hot and humid temperatures and crazy weather conditions has finally passed.
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Starting Monday, Londoners will be welcoming plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the twenties, according to Brian Owsiak, an operational meteorologist with Environment Canada.
“There’s a downward trend in temperatures to more seasonal values beginning [soon], and through the rest of the week…. [It] looks like we’re going into a calmer weather pattern for the next few days [with] mainly sunny skies.”
The return of beautiful weather comes after a blazing hot week in mid-July, with temperatures in the low to mid-30s, feeling like 40s with the humidex.
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In fact, a tornado warning kicked off the weekend for those in London and the surrounding region. The warning was sent out at around 1:30 p.m. and lasted for less than an hour.
London skies on Friday as a storm approaches. Photo: Ray Majoran (Twitter).
Owsiak tells 980 CFPL that “there was a period when [meteorologists] were concerned for a risk for a tornado. There was rotation indicated on radar…. There have been some photos of some funnel clouds in the [London] area.”
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A storm developed in the midst of the tornado warning, and while heavy rain poured in, Owsiak says more than just water hit the city that day.
“There hasn’t been any reports of any significant damage [caused by the storm]. However, I do know that hail up to the size of golf balls was reported in the city of London yesterday, so that was potentially damaging certainly, when hail gets to be that size.”
On Saturday night, heavy rain and lightning shook southwestern Ontario, and London Hydro reported power outages affecting the west-end of the city. Roughly 6,700 customers lost electricity, with some residents reporting of being powerless for more than 12 hours.
Several neighbourhoods and thousands of Londoners lost power on Saturday night.
By early Sunday morning, most customers had their power restored. The storm also passed, but light showers were expected Sunday afternoon.
When asked about future trends in temperature, Owsiak says he believes that “…the general trend is that, in a global-warmed world, we would anticipate a few more [extremely] hot days in the future. Maybe a few more days in the summer [that are] over 30 degrees, but this might become more common in the future.”
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In the meantime, Londoners have a bright week to look forward to, and Owsiak is taking this time to remind everyone to “Drink plenty of water, seek out cool places, ideally an air-conditioned building if you can. If you have to be outside, try to seek out some shade.”
Sunset on the beach in southwestern Ontario on Saturday night. Photo: Kalila Scott (Snapchat).