Summer weather in Toronto has been all over the map, flanked with extreme conditions from heat waves to tornado warnings.
With last week’s torrential downpours wreaking havoc throughout the city and sporadic rainstorms since, we’ve now experienced the “wettest July on record,” according to climatologist Dave Phillips – and the month’s still not over!
The previous record for rain in Toronto for the month of July was 193 millimetres in 2008.
So far for this July, Environment and Climate Change Canada had already recorded 186 millimetres earlier this week, and we just got another 22 on Wednesday July 24.
More than half of the previous record came down last week on July 16, which resulted in mass flooding, transit chaos, and power outages throughout the city.
Portions of the Don Valley Parkway and Lake Shore Boulevard experienced severe flooding, resulting in stranded and damaged vehicles.
The storms also caused all of Toronto’s public beaches to be deemed unsafe for swimming, thanks to stormwater runoff, combined sewer overflow, or streams and rivers flowing into local waterways raising E. Coli levels.
Toronto might have even more rain before the month is up, with a chance of showers forecasted for next Monday and Tuesday.
Experts are also predicting Ontario’s fall forecast to have above average rainfall; however, temperatures are also expected to be higher than usual.