Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) Terri Lang took the time to catch up with PortageOnline and look back at the summer, talk about the fall, as well as the winter to come.
Lang notes that ECCC tracks the meteorological summer, which starts in June and ends in August.
"The average temperature for the summer was +19.5, and the 30-year average is +18.5. So, just one degree above average for the summer. Making it the 20th warmest out of 130 years."
This past summer saw 97.1 millimetres of precipitation, compared to an average of 224.8 millimetres.
"That is only 43 per cent of the average. And that made it the 7th driest summer in 135 years."
Although it did not fall in the summer, the hottest day of the year was September 2nd, when Portage reached +35.8.
Lang says the fall is anticipated to be warmer and drier than average.
"We have an El Niño building in, and that's often linked to warmer and drier than average fall and particularly in the winter, that's when the correlation really seems to kick in."
Focusing on September, Portage's average temperature was +16.1, according to Lang, 3.4 degrees above the yearly average, making it the 5th warmest September in 130 years.
"In September, Portage's average temperature was 16.1. Compared to a 30-year average of 12.4, it was 3.7 degrees above average, making it the 5th warmest and 130 years."
While not wanting to predict the snowfall expected for the winter, Lang did point out that the El Niño coming our way is often tied to warmer and drier-than-average temperatures.
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