There's no doubt that the last couple of months have been very hot and dry throughout most of southwestern Ontario and it appears those conditions are here to stay for a while.
According to one spokesperson at Environment Canada, we typically see 80 to 90 mm of rain a month during the summer, but the months of May, June and July were very dry, bringing only 49 mm for the month of June to the Mount Forest area.
"We've had three consecutive months now with below normal precipitation, not quite as bad in July as May and June, but three months now, so if people say that it's a bit dry, well, that's correct, it was and is," says Peter Kimbell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.
As for the month of August, Kimbell notes just how difficult it is to predict precipitation - especially during the summer months.
"A lot of precipitation comes in the form of convective showers that are pretty localized; one area may get a lot of rain from a thunderstorm and and area ten kilometres away will get next to none, so forecasting that a few days ahead of time is a real challenge," adds Kimbell.
The remainder of the first week of August is shaping up to be hot and dry with some rain possible heading into the weekend.
Maitland River low level, August 3, 2016 (BlackburnNews.com photo)
