THUNDER BAY — The long weekend could be record-breaker for heat.
Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips said three days of hot weather appears to be in store for Thunder Bay, with Sunday expected to reach 32 C.
A heat warning was issued by Environment Canada on Friday afternoon, advising of hot and humid conditions beginning Saturday and continuing through Monday or Tuesday. Temperatures could exceed 30 C, with humidex values in the mid-30s.
"That's a dozen degrees warmer than it should be," Phillips said. "The previous record was 30 C back in 1955."
He said the hottest day this summer in the city was on July 27 when temperatures reached 31.4 C.
Phillips said that some of the best weather in Canada this weekend will be here in Thunder Bay, with "wall-to-wall sunshine and no precipitation."
He added that weather models predict warmer weather into early September.
"We think that that there's going to be warmer than normal conditions through September, particularly in Thunder Bay and in that part of Ontario," he said, adding that the month is expected to also be drier than normal.
Phillips said Thunder Bay has only seen three days where the thermostat reached or exceeded 30 C.
"We had one in June, one in July, and one in August," he said. "And we're going to get three in the first week of September."
"It's a bit of anomaly, but I think it's maybe it's just nature trying to warm up to us and make amends to what people thought was not necessarily the best kind of summer."
Phillips called this long weekend forecast a type of gift.
"[The long weekend] makes it particularly special and, to have three dry days, sunny days, warm days in a row at this time of the year is, is a bit of an atmospheric gift I think."
