Environment Canada: Cooler temperatures predicted for June

Residents of southern Ontario should prepare themselves for cooler than seasonal average temperatures in June, according to Environment Canada scientists.

While Environment Canada's official summer weather outlook is not due out until next month, meteorologist Geoff Coulson told CBC News on Friday that early predictions indicate June temperatures will likely be below average when compared to past years.

Just because the overall trend seems to be a little cooler, it doesn’t mean that we won't get the odd day here and there where we get really warm weather.- Geoff Coulson, Environment Canada meteorologist

"This spring we’ve been living with the after effects of the winter we had. There was so much ice on the Great Lakes — the most ice on the Great Lakes since records began in the early 1970s — and that’s also been slowing us down in terms of warm weather."

The record ice cover has kept air temperatures in the region cool, and it will be several more weeks until warm air masses moving north from the U.S. elevate temperatures back to the seasonal norm.

"As those warm air masses are coming from the American deep south, they’re encountering much cooler lake temperatures near the Great Lakes, and that’s modifying things," said Coulson.

The good news? According to Coulson, models also suggest that July and August will bring temperatures well into the mid to high 20s, and humidity readings into the low 40s. 

"Just because the overall trend seems to be a little cooler, it doesn’t mean that we wont get the odd day here and there where we get really warm weather."

And for Ontarians who can't take another long, harsh winter, Coulson said that "consensus is building among climatologists" that an El Niño event could occur near the end of summer or early fall. The El Niño will likely mean warmer than average temperatures throughout next winter.