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The dog days of summer have arrived early in the London region.
Published May 31, 2023 • 2 minute read
Dan Le admits it’s “a bit hot” as he runs through London’s Greenway Park in the afternoon heat of Tuesday May 30, 2023. Le says he’s thinking of running a marathon this fall. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)
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The dog days of summer have arrived early in the London region.
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The city is on track to break two decades-old temperature records to close out the work week, the latest in a string of 30 C-plus daytime highs the region typically would see much later in the summer.
“We’re like eight or nine degrees above normal,” said Monica Vaswani, warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment Canada. “It’s definitely more like a mid-summer day’s temperature than an early summer or late spring temperature, that’s for sure.”
The national weather agency is calling for sunny highs of 32 C on Thursday and Friday, before showers arrive Saturday with temperatures in the mid- to low 20s on the weekend, closer to the typical daytime temperature of 23 C for this time of year.
Blame the recent heatwave on a high pressure system bringing in heat in from the U.S. midwest, Vaswani said.
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“It’s basically all of the eastern seaboard that’s experiencing these above-seasonal temperatures right now,” she said Wednesday. “Because of that ridge of high pressure, we’re not seeing systems traverse Ontario as they often do, bringing us rainy days and sunny days, like a see-saw.”
The highest temperature on record for June 1 in London is 28.4 C, a benchmark set in 1986. Environment Canada is calling for temperatures almost four degrees higher than the record on Thursday.
If the Environment Canada forecast holds and London’s daytime high reaches 32 C on Friday, it would edge out the previous record of 31.1 C set in 1944.
Temperatures are expected to hover closer to seasonal averages in the first two weeks of June, Vaswani said, when a cold front pushes its way into the region.
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A spokesperson for the Middlesex-London Health Unit said Wednesday officials are monitoring the temperatures closely, but they have not yet reached levels that would trigger a heat alert.
While some of the daytime highs in the forecast surpass the 31 C threshold for a heat alert, the overnight lows are still below the minimum 20 C required to issue a public warning.
Environment Canada is calling for overnight lows around 16 C Thursday and Friday, with the nighttime temperature dropping to 12 C on the weekend.
A heat alert by the health unit requires the city to open cooling centres for people requiring temporary shelter from the heat.
Though the local temperatures aren’t high enough to prompt an alert, Vaswani said people – particularly ones working outdoors – should still be mindful of the heat.
“Take extra precautions if possible. Make sure you’re drinking lots of water, staying hydrated, even before you feel thirsty. Take lots of breaks indoors in an air conditioned building if possible, but if not, just a little shade will likely give you a reprieve from the heat,” she said.
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