Well, anyone who lives in the Waterloo Region will be able to tell you that we had a very hot August in 2010.

Now it is official: this was the hottest August in 50 years.

And we can expect higher than usual temperatures all the way through November too. The BBQ is still out and we hope for a few outdoor BBQs in the coming month or two.

Can't complain about that ...

Toronto issued a heat alert as temperatures are expected to reach 30C today.

This spring is unusually early and warm. Today the temperature was around 26C, and that is not the first time this season.

The leaves are already sprouting from buds when it is barely mid April. One Japanese Maple tree has already bloomed and shed its flowers. Another silver maple tree is in bloom today. Our neighbor's magnolia trees has flowers that will open in a few days now. The lilacs are starting to show leaves as well.

All the above usually happens in the first week of May in other years, so we are 3 week early!

As expected, the record from 1932 snowfall (245.3 cm) was broken this winter (246 cm), and winter is not even over yet.

Even the amount of snow for one day was 32 cm on Saturday, topping the previous record in Jan 22, 1966 of 30.5 cm.

The total amount of snow from Friday/Saturday was 38 cm, but with wind and drift, it was waist deep or even chest deep in many places.

True to weather specialists forecasts, winter of 2007-2008 is more snowy than the last 15 years. We already had two big snow storms here in Southern Ontario, the last just today (January 1, 2008). Atlantic Canada had more storms than here.