Cooler air expected in Ontario Wednesday after two-day heat wave

Visitors take pictures as they enjoy the hot and sunny weather with a walk past flowers at Kew gardens, Wednesday, June 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

After two days of scorching temperatures that saw Toronto break a 78-year-old record for heat, Ontario will get some relief.

Rain is expected across much of the southern half of the province on Wednesday, and temperatures are forecasted to drop to the mid-twenties.

Nearly half of southern Ontario was under a special weather statement Monday and Tuesday due to heat, which one weather expert said will become more common as a result of climate change.

Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, said the most recently released report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said we can expect heat records to be exceeded on a regular basis and earlier in the year, as driven by climate change.

Environment Canada said a temperature of 32.1 C was observed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport Tuesday afternoon, breaking the previous heat record of 31.1 C recorded on May 31, 1944.

The hot and humid weather at the start of the week prompted Environment Canada to issue a heat warning for Toronto, the Peel, Windsor-Essex, York and Durham regions, as well as a special weather statement for a swath of southern Ontario stretching from Barrie to Sarnia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 1, 2022.