Conditions on Georgian Bay today were exactly what surfers and kite boarders look for, with plenty of wind.
But it also came with something else that farmers aren't too happy about: cooler temperatures.
A cool northerly wind whipped up waves on the bay this morning, prompting Luke Sauder to grab his board and head out into the surf near the harbour in Meaford. Sauder watches the weather for days like this.
“It's cooled off. A little cold front came through and that makes waves for us,” he says. “The bay is getting turned up. We get these beautiful waves to play on out here, but it's sunny, it’s summer, why not get out a play a little?”
While surfers and paddle boarders rode the waves, kite boarders and windsurfers took full advantage of the breeze farther down the shoreline at Northwinds Beach as a building high pressure system continued to pump cold air into our region. Dave Gardon drops everything when the wind blows.
“It's a 20-knot day, the kind you only get once or twice a summer, that’s why we are here,” he says.
The normal daytime high for this time of year is around 26C; today it only reached 16C in Collingwood and the cooler-than-normal weather this summer is starting to put some crops behind schedule.
Kevin Ward grows a variety of berries, squash, and corn at his farm – Fernwood Farms – near Stayner. He says the corn is looking good but his first harvest is at least a week behind.
“All the vine crops like pumpkins, I could really use some heat right now, all of the corn loves heat, anybody who is growing melons right now even down in Niagara like peaches they probably want some heat to bring those crops along a little faster,” he says.
In the meantime the first sweet corn from southern Ontario is available and the cool weather is ideal for Ward’s blueberries and raspberries, which are promising to be a bumper crop.
Environment Canada's seasonal forecast for August is putting slightly higher odds of a cooler-than-normal month ahead over a warmer one.
