Environment Canada says temperatures this summer have been slightly colder than average, leading to what feels like an early fall.
July was two degrees cooler than normal, and this August was also slightly below average. Another contributor to the earlier-than-normal-fall feeling could be from the wildfires.
“With the smoke, it limits visibility, it can reduce air quality, it can make it more difficult to breathe and it can also reduce temperatures because it zaps away some of the sun’s energy. The sunlight that would usually make it to the ground doesn’t quite get there so it does impact photosynthesis processing plants than require energy so plants think well it must be fall now,” said Global News meteorologist, Peter Quinlan.
Some wildfires in Canada are under control, however, others keep burning and experts say it could last until the fall.
“Wildfire fighting practices have been effective. We are not going to knock off every single fire, can’t do that. We’ll never have the resources, human resources, or aerial firefighting equipment to handle every single wildfire we have,” said John Grabek, faculty lecturer, at McGill.
Arborist Pierre Duguay said he plans to embrace the cooler temperature because it keeps him busy and trees healthy.
“The best time to prune a tree is at this time of year or in later fall through the winter,” he said. “There’s always a transition through the season and it seems in the fall time we get more calls in. Things ramp up a bit. You think we’d be busier in the summer, but fall is a very busy time for us.”
Even though it’s still summer, Duguay is seeing signs of the changing season because business is starting to pick up.
“People are seeing the turning of leaves, a little bit cooler weather. It’s more common for August but it seems that it’s a little bit earlier this year.”
“It’s just a good reminder that the best time to prune a tree is at this time of year or in later fall through the winter. And that’s always nice to remind people that it’s it’s the best time to do it.”
— With files from Global’s Teagan Rasche
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