Heavy rain, wind after record highs

Tree downed in key intersection of downtown Moncton, 09 June 2017 (Wade Perry/Twitter)

A low pressure system moved into the Maritimes today bringing up to 40 mm of rain to Greater Moncton.

A strong thunderstorm also rolled through Southeast New Brunswick in the early evening with wind speeds clocked as high as 102 km/h.

The brief but powerful gusts downed trees and branches onto power lines and caused thousands of power outages.

Environment Canada had not issued any weather warnings for the region.

The storm replaced a warm air mass which set record highs in at least four New Brunswick communities yesterday.

The hotspot was Kouchibouguac National Park which climbed to 32 C and that beats the maximum from 1992.

Moncton and Doaktown both tied their record highs of 30.6 C for the date.

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Record highs in the Maritimes

Jones Lake, west end Moncton, 18 May 2017 (Dearing)

Summer-like air enveloped the Maritime Provinces with new record high temperatures set in all three provinces yesterday.

Environment Canada says more than a dozen communities in New Brunswick hit new maximums for the date including St. Stephen at 34.0 C (hot spot in Canada), Fredericton at 33.0 C and both Woodstock and Edmundston at 32.0 C.

While the thermometer reached a record-breaking 30.5 C at the Greater Moncton International Airport, the overall 18 May record for Moncton is 31.7 C from 1918.

In Nova Scotia, new records were set in Greenwood and Kejimkujik Park at 32.0 C while Summerside, Prince Edward Island warmed up to 26.3 C.

Winter returns to the U.K.

Snow covers a vehicle in Aviemore, Scotland, UK, 25 April 2017 (BBC Weather)

Arctic air has enveloped the United Kingdom with heavy snow in Scotland and northern England and near freezing temperatures as far south as London.

Forecasters say snow in late April is not uncommon and actually fell over parts of the country around the same time last year.

Temperatures struggled to reach 10 C today after a hard frost early this morning.

This cold snap is a far cry from record breaking heat earlier this month when the thermometer climbed to 26 C in southern England and a mild March which was the fifth warmest ever for the U.K.

Record warmth in central, eastern United States

Cherry blossoms in bloom, Washington, DC, USA, 02 March 2017 (Instagram)

During January and February, the city of Chicago only had a few centimetres of snow with no measurable amount on the ground for the first time in 146 years.

Record highs were broken from New England to Texas where temperatures recently soared into the high 20’s C causing trees and flowers to bloom ahead of schedule.

The cherry blossoms in Washington, DC could reach their peak on 14 March which would be the earliest.since officials began keeping track in 1921.

Climatologists say much of the central and eastern United States had a very warm winter with February 2017 being the second warmest in 123 years of records.

UPDATE – The cherry blossoms in Washington, DC actually reached their peak on 25 March after being delayed by a cold snap and snow.

Record highs in Eastern Canada

What a difference in one week in downtown Fredericton, 23 Feb 2017 (Facebook)

The weather has been relatively calm lately in New Brunswick and the Maritimes which has been a welcome relief after a string of winter storms earlier this month.

Mild air has pushed into the region which set several record highs yesterday both here and in Southern Ontario.

The Greater Moncton International Airport reached 10 C and it was the warmest temperature since 18 December – just shy of the record of 13.2 from 1981.

But some weather stations in the Moncton area climbed as high as 13 C.

New record highs for 23 February:

Kouchibouguac Nat’l Park 12.4 C

Woodstock, NB 11.9 C

Bathurst 10.5 C

Windsor, ON 19.3 C

London, ON 18.3 C

Toronto Pearson Airport 17.7 C

Record warmth in N.B.

Fall colours in Fairview Knoll Park, Moncton, 08 Oct 2016 (Dearing)

The fine fall weather is continuing in Greater Moncton with a summer-like high of 24.4 C yesterday which ties the record from 1946.

Record highs were set across New Brunswick with the hot spot being Kouchibouguac at 25.9 C.

Today, Greater Moncton reached 23.9 C which once again ties a record, this time from 1970.

Remember the March 2012 heat wave?

Parlee Beach, NB, 22 March 2012

On this date in 2012, the thermometer soared to 26.1 C in Greater Moncton – the highest temperature ever in March with records dating back to 1871.

The previous two days were also unseasonably warm at 25.3 C and 21.0 C.

Those three days shattered the previous March record high of 18.9 C from 1945.

Fast forward to today, with an expected high of 4 C and a chance of light snow tonight.

Record highs during January thaw

A collision on an icy Salisbury Road near Moncton, 11 Jan 2014 (Facebook)

Numerous record highs have been shattered across New Brunswick during a significant January thaw.

In Greater Moncton, the thermometer reached 11.2°C today which breaks the old record of 10.7°C from 1980 and is the warmest spot in the province.

Other record highs include 10.1°C in Kouchibouguac and 10.2°C in Alma while the national warm spot was in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia with a spring-like 14.2°C.

Precipitation began as freezing rain yesterday and before the temperature rose and the rain started, roads became extremely icy across New Brunswick.

Some sections of the Trans Canada Highway were shut down after the road resembled a skating rink.

UPDATE – Strong winds gusting to more than 100 km/h were reported in parts of Nova Scotia which brought down tree branches and destroyed many signs in the Halifax area.