By Connor Lynch
Ontario’s weirdly wet weather is the product of the same phenomenon causing a drought in the Prairies and forest fires in British Columbia, says an Environment Canada climatologist.
The Jet Stream, which normally runs farther north in Ontario through Hudson Bay, is hanging low this year. That’s been trapping weather systems in Ontario, which has been the reason why the rain only stops for days at a time.
“The irony is, if we could swap weather with Western Canada we’d both be happy,” said Environment Canada climatologist David Phillips.
It’s not likely to happen however. Phillips said that just as last year saw a seemingly never-ending summer, this year may well see never-ending rain. “Nature doesn’t feel sorry for us. It doesn’t work that way. Whatever’s causing it in the first place is going to continue.”
The situation, however, isn’t entirely hopeless. Although Environment Canada tries to never predict precipitation, simply because it’s too unpredictable, temperatures are in its wheelhouse and Ontario is likely to get warmer towards the end of the summer, Phillips said. Ontario hasn’t been much cooler than normal this year but plenty of cloud coverage could fool you into thinking otherwise, he said.
