As summer gets underway, there’s no doubt some cottagers are wondering what kind of weather we’re going to have this season, especially with all of the extreme weather we experienced in cottage country this spring. But there’s good news: According to recent reports, no matter what province you’re in, sitting lakeside is where you’ll want to be.
While we’re expected to get some relief from the record-breaking temperatures we saw last summer, according to Environment Canada, many areas across the country will be seeing warmer than average temperatures this summer.
Environment Canada climatologist Dave Phillips told CBC News that temperatures in British Columbia, the Northern Prairies, and from the Ottawa Valley to Newfoundland and Labrador are expected above average, while the rest of the country is looking “near-normal.”
But the warm weather in Environment Canada’s long-range forecast doesn’t necessarily mean we’re in the clear. The forecast is meant to be taken in general terms and does not touch on extreme weather events that are inevitable, particularly when it comes to precipitation.
“Precipitation is always a tough thing to get,” said Phillips. “Our precipitation models are pretty meaningless, especially in the summer, because it could be raining on one side of the street and not the other.”
“The biggest takeaway from this forecast is it’s not going to resemble last year’s summer, which was the warmest summer on record for Canada,” lead forecaster Brett Anderson told The Canadian Press. So while temperatures will be warm, in comparison to last year’s sweltering heat, cottagers can look forward to a more typical Canadian summer when it comes to temperature.
