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I thought I would re-ignite the debate on the relative warmth/heat/humidity or lack thereof, experienced in the typical Toronto summer. Considering were in Canada (duh - winter country eh!) comparisons about heat with other parts of the lower latitude world are apple-orange. I’ll point out fair comparisons to other climates, both near & afar around the globe. It might seem rambling but based on previous posts, who deems what hot or muggy or even comfortable, it’s all relative but here’s my take;
Weatherspark, Weather underground & many other weather climate sources (mainly US) use the Toronto Island airport station to show climate averages & current weather for Toronto. It was previously known as “City Centre” now Billy Bishop airport, which might have led them to believe it was downtown. It is the second airport in the city (a convenient commuter short haul flight airport used by downtown residents) & is connected by underground tunnel (previously ferry service)
Whatever the case, “the Islands” are surrounded by chilly, fairly deep lake waters as a result of long winters, which in turn warm up slowly as summer kicks into gear. A few hundred people live on the island & recreational/ tourist boats visit daily in summer. but more representative of the city & inner suburbs where millions of people actually live would be two other metar data stations:
1) Downtown (U of T St. George campus) location about 5km north of the lakeshore
2) Toronto Pearson Int’l airport (in the far west end of the city – actually located in neighboring Mississauga city – approx 13km inland from the lake).
For those places, July Max average 80 downtown, 81 Pearson (both 27C) those are 30 year averages, 61 (16C) Pearson, 64 (18) downtown nighttime Minimums with average 24 hr humidity levels of 71-77% (downtown latter). Added to that, the “average” temps have increased in the pat 20 years by day & night (roughly 1F) in part because of rapid densifying development, reducing the cooling effect. In the core city, many nights can remain at or above 68F (20C) for weeks on end, ask someone without an air conditioner in a stuffy old apartment in town how that feels..Vancouver, you only could wish to be in. Although Vancouver can get heat waves, it just far milder most of summer & cools off most evening/nights, not the case in Toronto. Heat spells in Toronto can be very hot 33C – 91F or higher usually for a few days & aggravatingly humid with very low wind conditions at times, broken by moderating cool fronts dropping humidity… might lead some to reference a similar condition to Hot’lanta on the harsher days (heat-humidity-hazy sunshine trio that city is known for), but not for months at a time like down there. Another note to an earlier post: in the past two decades there have been an average of 22 days over>30C (86F) days per warm season, vs. historical average was 12-16 days (depending on location) so it’s trending hotter, but of course it’s not the only place in the world where this is occurring.
As for days that don’t reach 24C / 75F? apart from the immediate lakeshore & TO islands, roughly 4 out of 5 summers not more than a few days wouldn’t reach at least mid-70s from late June until Labour Day, & when below that mostly they would be under a continuous rainfall or a low cloud deck with fairly high dewpoints that can still feel muggy. Roughly 1 out of every 5 summers will be considerably cooler than most, where the heat dome is persistently south of the area due to a lower jet stream position (& associated atmospheric trough at heights) these conditions usually result from a weaker Bermuda-Azores high pressure system influence (or its position is further away from the NA Atlantic coastline reducing the hot, humid heat pump from reaching as far north as usual). These years do drag down the average, there would be far more under<75F days, or roughly half the days of summer. Humidity would still be present but would not normally present a hot feel factor. In these summers, locals complain about the lack of heat after enduring another winter.. who wouldn’t, they are more ideal for outdoor exercise or sports but not for beach fun.
If your visiting Toronto in summer from a more moderate oceanic, northern summer clime, high altitude (Bogota, Mex city, Nairobi) or even a somewhat hotter, drier place (ie. Kamloops, BC, Madrid, Adelaide, Santiago, Burbank, CA etc) you will definitely feel the humid warmth of Toronto, but if your from a more consistently hot muggy place it would be just more of what your used too, just not as consistently. Some other cities mentioned by posters with higher night/day averages have cloudier, higher rainfall & humid summer conditions (take Seoul, Tokyo) but it will be sunnier in Toronto overall with longer daylight hours another factor intensifying the UV/heat feel. However not close to the brutal sustained heat of the summers experienced in high 20s/low 30s N latitude belts ( places like Arizona, Texas, N. Africa, Middle East, India) where lengthy outdoor time is largely avoided, a hot day in Toronto would be inconsequential, or the consistent saturating humidity in places like South/eastern Asia, Gulf of Mexico (having lived there for time) but a far warmer feel than in the cool/ milder summer climates of east/west coasts of Canada, much of Canada for that matter, northern Europe, some parts of central europe, northern Asia, high altitude (many places on all continents) or on shores of the Upper Great Lakes.
For equivalency; In NA summer climates similar are Ottawa/Montreal but they are a tad shorter/cooler, esp. late summer, Boston is very close, all experience similar humidity levels. Both Chicago & NYC being a couple of degrees south (42-41N) vs. Toronto (44N) have similar humid climates, Chi town +1.5 warmer day-NYC +2.5C warmer overall. Max/Min July temp scale is closest in Europe to cities like Budapest, Hungary; Lyon, France or Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine (SE part of that county); the first two have longer summers, Toronto is more humid than all.
Interestingly, coastal Sydney, Australia (at 34S) has very close ave. temp / humidity/ precip schema in it hottest months (Jan./Feb) vs. Toronto in July, only Sydney becomes markedly hotter/drier as you move inland away from the coast being a hot desert country, and of course, is much warmer, much longer summer season for the remainder of the year.
Meaningless comparisons to Atlanta or Shanghai, they have long, hot summer sub-tropical climates & are very muggy for months on end, almost uninterrupted…a few climate zones apart.
Traveler advice (that’s what the original posting was for, right ?): coming to Toronto in summer, bring light clothing , sunscreen & rain gear for a sudden pop-up thunderstorm, a thin zip top or light shawl for the odd evening most of the time open sleeves will work. Summer is overall a solid good weather season in this region, plenty of sun & warmth…. A/C in most places if you need it….begin & end are not consistent, it can start in May & continue for months or struggle until July arrives then can run through September end, other years it wanes by the latter part of Aug …..and lastly almost all agree, it’s never long enough!
It's my 3rd summer here now. Compared to Boston, although the temperatures average a little lower, the humidity is worse. I could never survive here without AC.
It's my 3rd summer here now. Compared to Boston, although the temperatures average a little lower, the humidity is worse. I could never survive here without AC.
Interesting! Boston's summers are cooler than here in Windsor, 4 hours southwest of Toronto.
To people from the tropics ....Toronto summers don't feel that hot.
To people from northern and central Europe ....feel hot and humid.
To most americans from the eastern half of the US ....normal to cool,
yes cool to anericans from the south, especially Texans.
In tropics you have more or less the same temperatures year around. It lets people to acclimatize and get accustomed to hot temperatures and high humidity. In continental climate, however, there are big swings of temperature, seasonally, monthly and sometimes even on a daily basis. Therefore if you live in Toronto (or Europe), the hot weather feels hotter and much less enjoyable than the same (or even hotter) weather if you live in tropical regions. Also many tropical regions provide more places suitable for hot weather (beaches, outside swimming pools almost everywhere, more air conditioning).
To people from the tropics ....Toronto summers don't feel that hot.
To people from northern and central Europe ....feel hot and humid.
To most americans from the eastern half of the US ....normal to cool,
yes cool to anericans from the south, especially Texans.
Are all people from the tropics, north/central Europe or Americas? You left out like 75% of world population.
People from most of East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan) etc won't find Toronto summer hot. People from most of of the Middle East won't find Toronto summer hot. People from South Asia (India, Pakistan etc) won't find Toronto summer hot. And people from most of Africa/Australia won't find Toronto summer hot either. That's like 60% of the world population.
People in Spain, Greece and Italy won't find Toronto hot. Last week, southern France was about 35-38C, so a big part of France won't think Toronto summer is that hot either.
In reality, only probably less than 10% of the people in the world would find Toronto "hot and humid" compared with where they originally live.
Are all people from the tropics, north/central Europe or Americas? You left out like 75% of world population.
People from most of East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan) etc won't find Toronto summer hot. People from most of of the Middle East won't find Toronto summer hot. People from South Asia (India, Pakistan etc) won't find Toronto summer hot. And people from most of Africa/Australia won't find Toronto summer hot either. That's like 60% of the world population.
People in Spain, Greece and Italy won't find Toronto hot. Last week, southern France was about 35-38C, so a big part of France won't think Toronto summer is that hot either.
In reality, only probably less than 10% of the people in the world would find Toronto "hot and humid" compared with where they originally live.
When I said people from the tropics I didn't specify. I meant people from most tropical climates,
doesn't matter where, asia, africa, south america.
I they are from a tropical highland climate, like Bogota or Quito, then they might
find Toronto summers to be hot.
You're right most people in the world wouldn't find them to be hot,
only mostly northern europeans and New Zealanders.
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