It may finally start to feel like spring – and maybe even early summer – for most of the country this week.
Recent reports from The Weather Network say warmer-than-normal temperatures are in the forecast for nearly every region in Canada at some point in the coming days as a ridge of high pressure crosses the country.
Temperatures can expect to reach 20 C and possibly higher for many regions, including southern Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as in southern Ontario, the network says.
Toronto could also see record-breaking temperatures this week.
«Did I mention the ridge is slow-moving? It’s a type of blocking pattern in the atmosphere, a rex block, so the ridge continues to amplify over Ontario and Quebec through Friday,» Weather Network meteorologist Tyler Hamilton writes.
«This is where Ottawa and southern Quebec benefit from a warmup as early as Thursday. This is also the driest stretch of weather since last September for Toronto. Hard to believe, right?»
This comes just as tens of thousands of people in Quebec and Ontario lost power after a deadly ice storm killed three people.
Over in British Columbia, where heavy rain and wind have hit the province this Easter weekend, temperatures will remain cooler than normal through to the middle of the month, according to The Weather Network.
Some areas in Alberta could see a period of strange weather on Tuesday, with Edmonton and Red Deer expected to see wet snow, while temperatures in Medicine Hat will remain in the upper teens most of the day.
In Manitoba, low cloud cover and widespread snowpack will also keep temperatures low in the province.
A «sharp cutoff» in temperature is expected in the Maritimes, while an upper trough east of Newfoundland will act as a blocker for any warm weather through to Friday, The Weather Network says.