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Montreal Weather Is Heating Up This Weekend & Could Hit 35 C With The Humidity
It's one of the earliest heatwaves in the city's history!
People sit on benches and a grassy slope overlooking the lake in Parc La Fontaine on a sunny day.
Mercury may be in retrograde this weekend, but in Montreal, the mercury is definitely rising. Environment Canada forecasts a 30 C high for the city on Saturday with sunny skies in the morning and a mix of sun and cloud in the afternoon. Not even a 30 percent chance of rain will cool things down. In fact, high humidity in the air will make it feel even hotter, around 35 C.
The UV index will also surge meaning more exposure to damaging sun rays. Experts advise staying hydrated and sticking to the shade if you decide to venture outdoors.
"We were three weeks late hitting our first 20 C high on Monday. We usually start seeing heat around April 17, so we've waited a long time to see temperatures rise. We got it all at once," Environment Canada meteorologist Jean-Philippe Bégin told MTL Blog.
"What we're experiencing is a build-up. There has been a cool air mass growing over the city that hit warm air closer to the ground and cooled down temps until early last week," he said.
Thermometers hit 30 C for the first time this year on Thursday sparking a heatwave that meteorologists say is one of the earliest Montreal has ever seen. Sustained higher temperatures in early-May haven't been recorded in decades.
May heatwaves are quite rare in the city. In order to be considered a heatwave, temperatures need to stay about 30 C for three days in a row. Montreal has only had four May heat waves since 1942, according to MétéoMédia. The last one was at the end of the month in 2020 when temperatures skyrocketed to 36.6 C.
While daytime temps will stay high, the evenings should cool off, giving residents a break. The current heatwave is expected to stop sizzling on Sunday when three days of rain showers are expected to start.