Heat breaks on P.E.I. after more than 2 weeks

Longer heat waves on P.E.I. could become the norm with climate change, says CBC meteorologist Janine Baijnath-Rodino, as a 17-day hot spell finally comes to an end.

From July 23 to Aug. 8 Environment Canada issued a heat warning every day but one. After 17 days Prince Edward Islanders will be able to work a little easier during the day and rest a little easier at night.

The forecast is for the temperature to remain below 25 C until Sunday. Nights will also be cooler, with an overnight low of 13 C forecast for Friday.

"What is unusual is the long duration of the heat wave," said Baijnath-Rodino.

"But that may become the norm in the future as climate change affects large-scale atmosphere and oceanic patterns that influence our regional weather."

In recentweeks, she said, a high-pressure system was pumping hot and humid air northwards toward the Maritimes.

Whilethe heat wave was long, no daily heat records were broken,and the temperature never topped 30 C at Charlottetown Airport. The hottest day was Aug. 1, at 29.9 C.

There were, however, seven days that were warmer than the hottest day of 2017 (28.6 C on Sept. 26).

The daily maximum temperatures, averaging 27.7 C, were 4.0 C above normal, and the nights were particularly sweltering. Overnight lows averaged 19.2 C, 4.8 C above normal.

P.E.I. has seen hotter stretches of weather.

Heat waves are difficult to track, because there is no official definition. But some strings of record-breaking days in previous years point to some very hot weeks.

• Aug. 2-12, 2001: Average daytime high 28.9 C.
• July 27-31, 1949: Average daytime high 29.4 C.
• July 24-29, 1921: Average daytime high 30.7 C.

While this heat wave was not as hot as those previous ones, it was six days longer than any of them.

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