Environment Canada predicts warm weather will continue into fall

As a result of the recent hot, dry weather, municipalities in Prescott-Russell are asking residents to exercise caution when lighting fires and using water.

There are currently two bans on open fires for commercial or other purposes in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell. The Village of Casselman has put a restriction on open burning within its limits, as has North Glengarry Township.

These were the only two municipalities issuing bans on open burning in Prescott-Russell at press time.

The Hawkesbury Fire Department, which is responsible for enforcing fire restriction orders for all municipalities within Prescott County and parts of The Nation that are within the county, reported that so far no other municipalities have requested bans on open burning.

The Ontario Ministry of Environment (MNR) is responsible for monitoring the forest fire hazard for eastern Ontario. The agency has warned that persistent high temperatures and lack of precipitation have placed the entire region in a moderate to high fire hazard.

The ministry is urging people to exercise "extreme caution" when open burning, including campfires.

No municipalities have imposed water restrictions yet, but many are asking residents to use common sense when using water. Tasks such as watering grass and/or hosing down driveways should be avoided.

Some residents who depend on wells for water have noted the hot, dry conditions have taken a toll.

Sal Picard, a Plantagenet resident who depends on his well for water, said he has had to conserve water because the lack of rain has taken a toll on the water in the well.

"My well sure isn't full, I can tell you that," he told The Review. "I have to use the water very sparingly or I'm going to run out."

David Fisher, who lives near Limoges, is in the same boat.

"My well is pretty shallow and when it's hot and dry like this, I have major problems with my well," he remarked. "Some of my neighbours have taken to bathing in their pools to save water. For me, it means taking the laundry to the laundromat and just being really careful with what I use.

"When it gets like this, you realize how much you take water for granted."

What's in the forecast?

What started out as a cool, dark and damp summer has turned into a summer of record-breaking temperatures and little precipitation - and one that Environment Canada predicts will take the region well into autumn.

Last week, the federal agency released its three-month outlook on the weather for eastern Ontario and western Quebec. The forecast encompasses the months of August through October.

Peter Kimbell, a meteorologist at Environment Canada, said while the region isn't in a drought situation, it has been much drier than normal for this time of year.
"We've had lower precipitation in the month of July," he said. "That's 59 millimetres and normal is about 90."

Kimbell added the heat and dryness we are experiencing now is quite different from the way summer began: "It follows on two months when we had above-average precipitation, May and June. June, in fact, we had quite a lot: 130 millimetres."

Environment Canada's three-month forecast says that August, September and October will be warmer than normal for the vast majority of Canada, from Alberta to New Brunswick. Only British Columbia, Yukon and a thin strip of Atlantic Canada will be on the cool side.

The same forecast predicts slightly below-average precipitation for eastern Ontario and western Quebec area in August, but Kimbell cautions that predicting rainfall is notoriously tricky, and this call is never made with a lot of confidence.