Snow came with spring’s official arrival this week, so it isn’t time to get the patio furniture out of the garage quite yet.
The season officially began early last Sunday morning, but while most expect warmer temperatures and a bit more sunshine when spring comes along, on Monday, the area saw high winds, colder than average temperatures and plenty of flurries and rain.
Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson says Waterloo Region is in for a few more weeks of cold weather. We could be waiting until May to see those really warm spring temperatures.
“I think a lot of folks were under the impression that winter was over. Earlier this month, we got temperatures into the double digits, feeling more like mid-April instead of mid-March, and now, unfortunately, we have gone back to where we should be this time of year and maybe even a degree or two cooler than that,” he said. “Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t get the memo.”
The temperature may seem to be a bit colder than usual for this time of year, but Coulson says that we are sitting at average values – it’s our perception that is different, especially with warmer days earlier this year. Some may have even jumped the gun with their car maintenance because of the sunny days and higher than expected temperatures earlier this year.
“What that means is there will be daytime highs of around five degrees, overnight lows around -4C or -5C,” he said. “There have been more than a few folks that [took off their winter tires,] and with the conditions we have been experiencing up until this point, it would have been a fairly straight forward decision to make, but unfortunately, with this return to cooler temperatures, that possibility of snow is still there.”
The colder temperatures will continue hovering around average due to a shift in wind over the last couple of days.
“For a lot of the month of March, up until this point, we have been having winds coming up from the southwest, which tends to be our warm wind direction. We have noticed a shift in the wind pattern, and that shift is going to stay with us for a while, with winds coming more out of the northwest,” he shared. “They tend to be colder winds. The reason for the messy weather over the next couple of days, is going to be sitting right over southern Ontario, giving a real mix of precipitation over the next few days, snow, some could see ice pellets and freezing rain, and even some rain as well and around the freezing mark for the rest of the week.”
But, don’t be scared, the warmth is on its way back to the area – you just have to wait a month.
“Overall for April, the implication is that temperatures being around seasonal for the month, and at this point, the first look at the month of May, it is indicating that temperatures are going to be warmer than normal,” he said. “It is a bit of a delay getting things going and it looks like that delay is going to be over the next few weeks, but as we get later into April and into May, it looks like more spring-like weather is on its way.”
