Pamela Dagher, left, and Cynthia Meghaizel try to stay cool in the Rideau River in Ottawa last Tuesday. Temperatures felt close to 40 C with the humidity. Pamela Dagher, left, and Cynthia Meghaizel try to stay cool in the Rideau River in Ottawa last Tuesday. Temperatures felt close to 40 C with the humidity. (Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press)

From last week's snowfall in Calgary to record rains in Saskatchewan and a heat wave in Toronto, Canada has had a week of wacky weather.

Hail hit parts of southwest Ontario, the thermometer rose to 30 C in the N.W.T. town of Inuvik and Montreal had as many days of torridity as it did all of last year.

Snow covers a lilac bush and apple tree in the southeast Calgary community of Chaparral. Snow covers a lilac bush and apple tree in the southeast Calgary community of Chaparral. (Submitted by J. Moore)

"What we've had in the last week is weird, wild and wacky. It's almost the extreme of what nature can throw at you in a week in May," Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips said.

"What it proves to me is what a huge country Canada is. So often we think it's winter in Canada or it's summer in Canada so it's cold and wet, or hot and humid. And a lot of the country can be in the same situation, but because it's the second-largest country in the world, you can also have very different conditions in the West than in the East."

Ottawa sets record

Across the country, the climes have been kooky. While Calgary buckled under near-freezing temperatures and 16 centimetres of snow late last week, hundreds of kilometres to the north, Inuvik was at 30 C.

The Calgary snow didn't set any records, but it was a rarity: Only three previous times in the last 125 years has the city had that much white stuff after May 27, Phillips said.

Atmospheric anomalies

Natasha Ramsahai, a meteorologist at CBC's weather centre, said the week of weather extremes across Canada is due to an amalgam of atmospheric oddities.

"In Newfoundland, they had areas of low pressure swing by and then get stuck off the Avalon Peninsula, and once it gets stuck there they get no sun and it doesn't get warmer," Ramsahai said.

The heat wave in Ontario and Quebec began in the U.S. southwest, she said, which explains why it started off dry before becoming humid.

"It came from the desert, and Northern Ontario warmed up first, then the heat started moving southward. Only then did the humidity come in from the Gulf of Mexico."

As for the wet southern Prairies, that moist weather system came from the Pacific and combined with the heat in Saskatchewan and Manitoba to spark up thunderstorms along with the rain.

What drenched farm country cooled Cowtown, Ramsahai said, as Alberta's blast of cold air came in from James Bay on the backside of that system.

Ottawa set a swelter supreme on Wednesday, reaching 35.8 C, a dozen degrees warmer than normal for the day. The previous earliest time in the year that the mercury had climbed so high was on a June 30.

A hailstorm hit London, Ont., on Monday and brought with it a funnel cloud and heavy rains. Hail stones as large as golf balls pelted some areas of the city, breaking several car and house windows, according to unconfirmed reports cited by Environment Canada.

Montreal too had hail, but also apogees of 32 and 34.7 — as many days of 32-plus on the thermometer as all of last year.

Toronto equalled its calidity count from 2009 as well, with three days last week above 30. Before Monday night's rainfall, the city had gone 18 days with only a millimetre of rain.

"There is nervousness, there is worry that all of the good days are being used up," Phillips said, though it's likely not a legitimate concern.

Environment Canada is forecasting a warm summer from coast to coast to coast, based on complex climate models that factor ocean temperatures, sea ice and polar snow cover, among other things. That follows one of the mildest winters on record and, though the final numbers have yet to be crunched, probably one of the balmiest springs on record, Phillips said.

"We think that warmth is going to continue. Is it going to be good for drinking beer and outdoor patios? I think so."

Unprecedented Prairie rains

For some parts of the country, it appears summer has certainly come early. Swimmers plied the waters last week on Georgian Bay, in the heart of Ontario's cottage country, where normally the lakes are frigid at this time of year. In the Maritimes, Fredericton and Halifax have been enjoying above-normal temperatures and half the usual precipitation for this time of year.

Saskatoon, as well as southern Manitoba, has seen torrential rains that pose a flood risk for basements. Saskatoon, as well as southern Manitoba, has seen torrential rains that pose a flood risk for basements. (CBC)

St. Sebald hasn't succoured St. John's, though. The Newfoundland and Labrador capital is seeing lows of a chilly 2 C.

On the Prairies, the buzzword is rain. Saskatchewan experienced its wettest April and May on record, and last week parts of southern Manitoba had 110 mm of rain — a month's worth — in one day. Winnipeg was shaken by 13 hours of thunderstorm on Friday and Saturday.

It's been a meteorological mess for farmers, who have been forced to stop seeding their sodden fields. Some already-sown tranches of crops like canola won't recover from the torrents.

And homeowners in Winnipeg and Emerson, Man., have had their basements flood, while the Moose Jaw and Qu'Appelle rivers in Saskatchewan are on the brink of overflowing.

In Vancouver, the skies were glum all week and 13 of the last 14 days saw rain, but the month's precipitation total, at 54 millimetres, is actually below normal.