Weather
What's the Weather Like In Tobermory Today?
The climate along the shores of large bodies of water such as the Great Lakes tends to be modified by the water itself. It acts as a heat sink, giving cooler temperatures in the summer when the warm air passes over it, and conversely warmer temperatures in the winter, at least until the water freezes.
"Lake effect" means that spring comes later to the shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay as the water warms up. We gain at the other end of the year - fall is drawn out more and the onset of cold weather is delayed as the water cools down.
There is another benefit to the lake effect in the spring and summer. As warm air passes over cooler water, it tends to stabilize the air mass, which retards the formation of clouds - and gives us significantly sunnier weather than points inland. Many are the summer days on the Bruce Peninsula when the shoreline is bathed in sunshine while clouds can be seen building up a few miles back.
I have maintained a weather station at my home since 1995. It records temperature, humidity, wind strength and direction, precipitation and solar radiation and provides a UV index. It creates records every sixty minutes, which I can then download to my computer.
While I, like just about everybody on this planet, am most interested in weather, I am particularly drawn to the study of climate. This might simply be described as the history of weather. Watching for trends, comparing one year to another or seeking evidence of global warming all intrigue me.
As I amass more records I hope to be able to reach more definitive conclusions about the effects of global warming on the Bruce Peninsula. I have obtained the records of Environment Canada dating back to 1914 for a weather station (now moved inland to our airport), which was quite close and comparable to mine.
See Climate Comment for archives of a monthly column on climate that I write for our local newspaper.