Last month marked London's driest June since 2011.
Figures from Environment Canada show the city saw only 63 mm of rain in June, a far cry from the average amount of 92 mm. The total rainfall amount would have been even more dismal had it not been for a couple of wet days at the start of the month.
“There were two days, on June 5 and 6, both of which had about 21 mm. If you take that out, then the rest of the month had about 20 mm for the other 28 days,” says Peter Kimbell, meteorologist with the national weather agency.
On top of being below average, June’s rainfall also fell well below the 88.6 mm seen in 2012, a year that brought a severe drought.
It’s not the heat that’s to blame, however, as temperatures weren’t abnormal.
“June actually was not that warm, it was actually about average temperature-wise,” says Kimbell.
Kimbell adds that although June hasn’t been the driest ever, with June 2005 being a noticeably drier month, it can’t be argued that “certainly it’s been dry.”
June’s dryness seems to be carrying over into July with little rain in the forecast and daily highs of or near 30 C for this week.
But Kimbell says this month's rainfall can't be truly forecasted with 100% certainty, as random downpours could impact averages.
“It’s just too difficult to forecast the whole month of rainfall, because all it takes is one storm which can change everything quite dramatically,” says Kimbell.
The average temperature in July is 20.8 C, but with a warm week in store, that average is shaping up to be shattered.
**This story was written by Samuel Gallant. Samuel is a student in the Fanshawe College broadcast journalism program. He is performing a summer internship with Blackburn News.**
