The unseasonably cold snap the region has seen in September is creating problems for farms and wildlife.
It was a cold, wet morning on Friday at Fernwood Farms in Stayner but that didn’t stop the pumpkin harvest from getting started. The large pumpkins is a sure sign that there was plenty of rain this summer but they are still waiting for them to turn orange and they need heat for that.
“It's been cold, wet and the wind and what we really need right now to finish off our pumpkins and fall crops is let’s get some hot sunny conditions going that's what we really need right now,” says famer Kevin Ward.
The month of September started out to be warm and sunny we even had one day over 30 degrees but day time temperatures dropped more than ten degrees this past week and it's only expected to get colder as northerly winds persist through the weekend there is even a chance of frost in some parts of our region.
Wildlife ecologist Scott Martin has been watching the migration of Monarch Butterflies at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park as they make their way south to central Mexico for the winter. Martin says the butterflies are sensitive to temperatures and wind direction and the migration suddenly slowed as the cold front passed through.
“Monarch butterflies like all insects get their heat from outside their body and this cold weather doesn't help them. Their muscles are too cold they need a nice warm day to fly.”
While the cold temperatures have slowed the butterfly’s trip south, across Georgian Bay in Thornbury the cool weather has kick started a different kind of migration. Chinook salmon are starting to swim upstream to spawn in the Beaver River.
Some of the leaves on the maple trees around southern Georgian Bay are starting to change colours and that’s ten days before fall is set to begin.
