Grand finale to exceptionally warm string of weather: Timing
Meteorologist, PhD
Tuesday, October 17, 2017, 11:56 AM - The first half of October featured contrasting weather patterns across Canada.
Warmer than normal temperatures were dominant across the eastern half of the country while colder than normal temperatures were persistent across most of B.C., Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan as well as parts northern Canada.
KEEP ON TOP OF ACTIVE WEATHER: Visit the Alerts section of the website
Looking ahead to the end of this week and weekend, the national temperature pattern will for the most part be a continuation of what we have seen for much of October, with the warmest weather relative to normal centered on Ontario.
Across the Prairies, temperatures will be trending closer to seasonal after several days of very warm weather during the week. B.C. will continue to be cooler than normal and Newfoundland and the Yukon will also join in with cooler than normal temperatures.
For Ontario and Quebec, this weekend will be the grand finale in what has been an exceptionally warm stretch of weather since mid-September. Once again temperatures will be close to 10 degrees above seasonal with highs topping 20ºC even across Northern Ontario.
However, during the final week of October we will see a reversal in the dominant temperature pattern across much of Canada.
The largest swing in temperatures will be across Ontario and Quebec with the arrival of colder than normal temperatures and even the potential for lake effect rain to mix with or change to wet snow late next week. While this is not unusual for late October, it will be quite a contrast to most of the month so far.
Meanwhile western Canada will see a transition to a somewhat milder pattern, but with “normal” steadily dropping this time of year, that change will not be as noticeable. The Prairies will see temperatures swings that are typical of this time of year. The one exception to the pattern reversal will be across Newfoundland and Labrador where above seasonal temperatures will continue to dominate through the end of October.
This pattern is expected to continue into early November as well. However, it is important to keep in mind that “normal” temperatures continue to drop by 1 to 3 degrees C per week as we progress through the fall season.
