There's no such thing as normal weather any more
Well its official “there's no such thing as normal weather any more”. This certainly explains how this year’s weather is going in my neck of the world…
Weird, wild weather a new norm
By OLIVER MOORE
Tuesday, July 12, 2005 Updated at 3:35 AM EDT
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
It's official: According to Environment Canada, there's no such thing as normal weather any more.
From one end of the country to the other, Canadians have been facing extreme weather, from unusual cloudiness on the West Coast to heavy rain across the Prairies and oppressive heat in Southern Ontario and parts of Quebec.
Fog has created chaos for the Nova Scotia tourism industry, forcing the airport to close several times this month.
"We're out of superlatives to talk about this summer," said David Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada.
"If I was writing the obituary on the summer so far . . . everybody has had something to curse or to bless," Mr. Phillips said.
"But there's been more cursing that blessing."
Environment Canada's models are predicting hotter-than-normal weather right across the country for July and August. But Mr. Phillips said that the extreme variability of the weather has made the job of forecasting more difficult.
The idea of typical weather is disappearing, he explained.
"There's nothing normal any more," he said. "Statistically, you should get more normal weather than extreme weather. Normal is what you expect. It's almost as if what nature's [giving us] is the ends of the spectrum.
"Weather seems to be presenting it to us in an extreme way," he added. "We've literally clobbered records, smashed them."
The hottest place in the country yesterday was Moosonee, Ont., the town at the southern tip of James Bay. In that community the temperature hit 36 degrees, or topping 40 degrees with the humidity.
Moosonee is only one of many places struggling with unusually oppressive weather, Mr. Phillips said.
Weather in the coastal areas of British Columbia has been particularly cool and cloudy, with two or three times the precipitation that might have been expected.
In the Prairie provinces there has been lots of rain, Mr. Phillips said, much more than on the coast.
Manitoba has been especially hard hit, with cloudbursts in several communities, close to 100 millimetres at a time in some places.
The bad Manitoba weather spilled into Northwestern Ontario, but the part of the province between Thunder Bay and Sudbury is hot and dry. It has been very warm in a large swath running from Timmins to Ottawa and on to parts of southern Quebec.
In Toronto there has been a record number of smog and heat advisories. There have been few extremely hot days but Torontonians have been hit with strings of unusually warm days. This past month was the city's hottest June ever and July is continuing the trend.
The city yesterday hit a record temperature of 34.2, which was higher than in Miami. The weather is expected to remain hot and dry through the week, continuing the near-drought of the last month -- Toronto has received just three millimetres of rain in 27 days.
The hot nights pose an additional problem: People without air conditioners have difficulty sleeping soundly, which prevents their bodies from recovering enough to face the rigours of the next day's heat.
The Maritimes have been spared the kinds of extended weather problems much of the rest of the country has received. According to Mr. Phillips, the eastern part of Canada has instead had "one-day wonders" of fitful weather.
Mr. Phillips also noted that Canadians' reaction to the weather -- as odd as it has been -- is shaped as much by their attitudes as by reality.
"Most people have very poor memories when it comes to the weather; they remember the extremes," he said. "People don't remember that 16 of the last 18 summers were warmer than normal. They just remember last year."
That may be making people in Southern Ontario notice the heat more. It has legitimately been hot and dry, but the contrast with last year's almost non-existent summer makes it seem more
Weird, wild weather a new norm
By OLIVER MOORE
Tuesday, July 12, 2005 Updated at 3:35 AM EDT
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
It's official: According to Environment Canada, there's no such thing as normal weather any more.
From one end of the country to the other, Canadians have been facing extreme weather, from unusual cloudiness on the West Coast to heavy rain across the Prairies and oppressive heat in Southern Ontario and parts of Quebec.
Fog has created chaos for the Nova Scotia tourism industry, forcing the airport to close several times this month.
"We're out of superlatives to talk about this summer," said David Phillips, senior climatologist for Environment Canada.
"If I was writing the obituary on the summer so far . . . everybody has had something to curse or to bless," Mr. Phillips said.
"But there's been more cursing that blessing."
Environment Canada's models are predicting hotter-than-normal weather right across the country for July and August. But Mr. Phillips said that the extreme variability of the weather has made the job of forecasting more difficult.
The idea of typical weather is disappearing, he explained.
"There's nothing normal any more," he said. "Statistically, you should get more normal weather than extreme weather. Normal is what you expect. It's almost as if what nature's [giving us] is the ends of the spectrum.
"Weather seems to be presenting it to us in an extreme way," he added. "We've literally clobbered records, smashed them."
The hottest place in the country yesterday was Moosonee, Ont., the town at the southern tip of James Bay. In that community the temperature hit 36 degrees, or topping 40 degrees with the humidity.
Moosonee is only one of many places struggling with unusually oppressive weather, Mr. Phillips said.
Weather in the coastal areas of British Columbia has been particularly cool and cloudy, with two or three times the precipitation that might have been expected.
In the Prairie provinces there has been lots of rain, Mr. Phillips said, much more than on the coast.
Manitoba has been especially hard hit, with cloudbursts in several communities, close to 100 millimetres at a time in some places.
The bad Manitoba weather spilled into Northwestern Ontario, but the part of the province between Thunder Bay and Sudbury is hot and dry. It has been very warm in a large swath running from Timmins to Ottawa and on to parts of southern Quebec.
In Toronto there has been a record number of smog and heat advisories. There have been few extremely hot days but Torontonians have been hit with strings of unusually warm days. This past month was the city's hottest June ever and July is continuing the trend.
The city yesterday hit a record temperature of 34.2, which was higher than in Miami. The weather is expected to remain hot and dry through the week, continuing the near-drought of the last month -- Toronto has received just three millimetres of rain in 27 days.
The hot nights pose an additional problem: People without air conditioners have difficulty sleeping soundly, which prevents their bodies from recovering enough to face the rigours of the next day's heat.
The Maritimes have been spared the kinds of extended weather problems much of the rest of the country has received. According to Mr. Phillips, the eastern part of Canada has instead had "one-day wonders" of fitful weather.
Mr. Phillips also noted that Canadians' reaction to the weather -- as odd as it has been -- is shaped as much by their attitudes as by reality.
"Most people have very poor memories when it comes to the weather; they remember the extremes," he said. "People don't remember that 16 of the last 18 summers were warmer than normal. They just remember last year."
That may be making people in Southern Ontario notice the heat more. It has legitimately been hot and dry, but the contrast with last year's almost non-existent summer makes it seem more
posted by Hold On at 12:51 PM
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