‘I’m just shocked:’ P.E.I. sees record high temperatures in October

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — P.E.I. residents who might have felt this October was hotter than traditional weren’t fallacious.

Actually, Charlottetown noticed a record-high temperature of 19.6 C on Thursday, Oct. 27, the warmest recorded day in October since 1963. In Summerside, the temperature maxed out at 20.6 C, breaking town’s earlier October file of 20 C in 1898.

SaltWire Community’s climate specialist Allister Aalders mentioned in an interview on Nov. 1 that temperatures have been effectively above common throughout Atlantic Canada.

“We all know based mostly on day by day highs and lows that temperatures on P.E.I. had been actually three to 5 levels above regular on common,” mentioned Aalders. “That’s actually important.”

The nice and cozy climate is due largely to above-normal temperatures within the North Atlantic Ocean.

A number of components have performed into why the water has been hotter, a very powerful being upper-level wind patterns the province was underneath for a lot of October.

“There was a blocking ridge of excessive stress. Usually, we see these blocking highs in the course of the summertime which preserve us dry,” Aalders mentioned.

The blocking ridge was positioned in such a manner that it hovered over Atlantic Canada, inflicting a big jet stream to tug in heat flows of wind from the south.

P.E.I. has been surrounded by this heat water all through October, inflicting winds throughout the Northumberland Strait to extend in temperature by a number of levels earlier than making landfall.

This heat streak will seemingly proceed into November and probably even December, inflicting sea ice to kind later within the winter. This isn’t excellent news for P.E.I.’s northern shoreline, which stays largely broken following post-tropical storm Fiona.

“Final yr, the ocean ice was late. Then we began having highly effective winter storms that despatched giant crashing waves into the shoreline inflicting erosion when usually, the ocean ice would have already shaped to guard the shoreline,” mentioned Aalders. “This leaves these already delicate shorelines notably weak.”

With present climate tendencies, it appears to be like seemingly the North Atlantic area may expertise one other La Niña winter for the third yr in a row.

Sometimes, with an La Niña sample it’s harder to foretell how the season will play out, mentioned Aalders.

“This being the third in a row is basically fairly a uncommon prevalence,” he mentioned.

The explanation for that is due largely to local weather change, which continues to influence the province worse yearly. It’s doable these hotter tendencies will turn out to be the brand new norm for the time of yr, seemingly affecting the autumn months probably the most, he added.

“It’s actually simply the proper elements of a powerful storm improvement, and, actually, the nice and cozy, unseasonable temperatures will probably be sticking round to start out the month of November.”

UPEI local weather lab director Adam Fenech instructed SaltWire Community in an interview on Nov. 1 that he’s involved with how rapidly temperatures have been rising throughout the province in recent times.

“Once we get issues hotter, even when it might seem to be a small quantity of temperature quantity often means an enormous change in nature,” mentioned Fenech. “I’m simply shocked at how rapidly these modifications are occurring. 30 years in the past, I used to be speaking about all of those types of issues and now they’re all manifesting.”

The nice and cozy temperatures do carry some silver linings, he added, resembling longer farming and tourism seasons.

That mentioned, they can even seemingly carry extra plant illnesses and pests, in addition to an amazing danger of forest fires.

“I’m actually nervous about forest fires finally changing into an issue right here. We’re sort of due for a giant forest fireplace, particularly with a whole lot of these timber down,” mentioned Fenech. “We’re a bit scared that these items are occurring as a result of they’re occurring quicker than we’d anticipated.”

Rafe Wright is a Native Journalism Initiative reporter, a place lined by the federal authorities. He writes about local weather change points for the SaltWire Community in Prince Edward Island and might be reached by electronic mail at [email protected] and adopted on Twitter @wright542.