For the third day in a row, London has broken a weather record.
Temperatures soared to 17.1 C at the London International Airport Friday afternoon, smashing the previous record high of 10.6 C, set in 1961.
"We haven't had it this warm for 56 years," said Environment Canada Meteorologist Peter Kimbell. "We have set records three days in a row now. Really off the chart records, not just a bit above average but way above average and above the previous records."
The warm spell hit southwestern Ontario on the Family Day weekend, first breaking a record last Saturday. Then on Wednesday a record on 13.9 C set back in 1930 fell as the temperature climbed to 15.4 C. That was followed with a daytime high on Thursday of 18.3 C that shattered the old record of 14.4 C also set in 1930.
Thursday's high also took the record for the warmest February day in London. The previous record was for 17.8 C on February 26, 2000.
But this is where the record breaking stops, according to Kimbell.
"I don't think it is going to be a record breaking February because I looked at the states for a few areas and I found we are sitting about three, four, maybe five degrees above normal for the month of February, which probably won't break a record but it is way above normal," said Kimbell.
London will return to more seasonal temperatures Saturday, with the low forecast to dip to -4 C.
"We have a very strong low pressure system that's crossing the state of Michigan. It is preceded by a lot of convection, there is a lot of thunderstorm activity crossing southeast Michigan. That low pressure system as it tracks eastward towards Ontario will bring a cold front and that's why we are forecasting temperatures to go back below or near normal," said Kimbell.
The return of seasonal weather may be short lived though, as temperatures are forecast to hit 7 C by mid-week, next week.
