Southern Ontario remained firmly outside drought territory at the end of August, even as dryness intensified across northwestern Ontario and parts of Quebec.
The latest monthly update on the Canadian drought monitor shows 33% of agriculture lands in the Central Region – which includes both Ontario and Quebec – were being impacted by abnormal dryness or some of form of drought as of the end of August. That is up just slightly from 31% at the end of July but well above 5% at the end of June.
However, as shown on the map below, southern Ontario was still free or any abnormal dryness or drought. In fact, August brought well above normal precipitation to areas of southern Ontario, even as the more northern areas remained dry.
According to the monitor, London, Welland, and areas northeast of Peterborough received more than twice their normal monthly precipitation levels. Numerous daily rainfall records were broken across southern Ontario on Aug. 2 and in eastern Ontario on Aug. 22.
August also marked the fourth consecutive month of above-normal precipitation for southern Ontario.
The Niagara region was particularly wet, with extreme rainfall adding to historically heavy July precipitation and prompting states of emergency in St. Catharines and neighbouring communities. A severe thunderstorm also caused significant flooding in the Ottawa-Gatineau region on Aug. 12.
Conditions were much different farther north. Large areas of northwestern Ontario received less than 40% of normal August precipitation, adding to significant seasonal moisture deficits. Severe drought expanded substantially across the northwest, while pockets of extreme drought developed near Thunder Bay, east of Lake Nipigon and in parts of far northern Ontario. Some of those areas had seasonal precipitation deficits exceeding 100 mm and ranked among the five driest years of the past century.
Quebec also remained mixed. Northwestern portions of the province saw severe drought expand, with a small area of extreme drought developing farther north. Northeastern Quebec improved following substantial August rainfall, while the corridor between Montréal and Québec City remained comparatively dry.
Moderate drought expanded in that southern Quebec region after August precipitation ran roughly 65 mm below normal in some areas, extending moisture deficits that had been building through the second half of the summer.
