Expect more lightning and more heavy thunderstorms across Windsor-Essex.
Windsor is already known as the 'Lightning Capital of Canada' but after cooler weather reduced the number of storms last summer, hot and muggy conditions are expected this summer, increasing the chances of thunder and lightning.
Environment Canada Senior Climatologist David Phillips says on average, Windsor gets around 32 thunderstorm days a year but an impressive amount of lightning is also produced in this area. "Draw a circle around Windsor out to 50km and if you counted the number of flashes from cloud to ground, on an average year, you would count 22,000 lightning strikes, " says Phillips.
On an average year, Toronto sees around 12,000 lightning strikes.
According to Phillips, both American and Canadian weather models are predicting more heat and more humidity for this summer. "In 2017 there were just 15 days with a temperature above 30C but the conditions this summer could be right for more thunder and lightning," he says. "The year before {2016} there were 34 days above 30C. So I think this summer is going to be like the summer of two years ago."
According to Environment Canada, lightning flashes occur across the country around 2.34 million times a year, including about once every three seconds during the summer months. Lightning strikes also kill up to 10 people and seriously injure up to 164 others every year.