Monday set a new record for the hottest day in May in Winnipeg, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Parts of southern Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan are in the middle of a heat wave — the first in Canada this year. ECCC says a temperature of 33.8 C was recorded near the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport at 3 p.m. Monday.
That’s one degree higher than the previous record in May 1958, according to the weather agency.
“This could be the warmest moment of the entire summer, and we still have 40 days to go,” David Phillips, a climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada told CBC News on Monday.
“This is quite exceptional. Temperatures in Winnipeg should be a high of about 19 C.”
The cities of Steinbach and Portage la Prairie, as well as the towns of Melita and Emerson, are among several areas in Manitoba that also recorded new daytime highs on Sunday, according to Natalie Hasell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with ECCC.
Historically, Manitoba has experienced about half a day with temperatures above the 30 C mark, she said.
The weather agency has also predicted below normal precipitation for Manitoba in the months of May, June and July, she said, adding that hotter and drier than normal conditions are not a good combination for farmers or wildfire prevention.
“This does not bode well considering how the season has already manifested with these very hot temperatures.”
Manitoba has gotten a third of the precipitation it normally sees this time of year, Phillips says.
The situation can turn deadly quick, he says, with data showing that more lives are likely to be lost in the first seasonal heat waves in places like Europe and North America.
“Fires were a warm season kind of phenomenon,” he said.
“You wouldn’t talk about it until school was out in July and August, maybe September — but now, it’s a year-round battle that we’re seeing.”
