Windsor enjoys warmest February day in city’s history

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It was all warm walks and bicycle rides Tuesday as the mercury surged past 21C, smashing the record for warmest February day in Windsor history.

But don’t get used to it.

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Environment Canada meteorologist Steven Flisfeder said the unofficial high recorded Tuesday at Windsor Airport was 21.2C, making it the warmest February day since the start of record keeping in 1867.

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But he warned that Wednesday would bring a fierce dive in temperature, setting in motion several days of extreme fluctuations.

“It’s going to be hard to beat Tuesday’s all-time high February record,” said Flisfeder. “That record will stand until at least next year. The next couple of days are going to be a bit of a rollercoaster. It should be bouncing back to high single digits if not double digits by the weekend. It’s a short-term dip, but it’s going to be a very drastic, very slap-you-in-the-face temperature change.”

The previous record high for February was 20.4C, set on Feb. 26, 2000.

Flisfeder said 2024 is also within striking distance of setting an all-time average daytime high for February. Up to Monday, the average temperature recorded for the month at Windsor Airport has been 6.6C. He said the average “is definitely going to go up” after Tuesday.

The current record for average daytime high throughout February is 7.2C, set in 2017.

“It remains to be seen how the last couple days will affect it,” said Flisfeder. “But I think it’s safe to say that it will at least be close, if not passing the current record.”

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Despite the warmer temperatures hanging on for the first part of Wednesday, the last couple days of February likely won’t be much help. Flisfeder said temperatures would “drastically drop” starting Wednesday.

“When people wake up it will still be in the double digits,” he said. “But those temperatures are going to drop very drastically, very rapidly through the day. The weather you have in the morning is going to be very different from the weather you have in the afternoon.”

But don’t worry, Windsor will not experience anywhere close to the coldest day on record for February. The forecasted high for Thursday will be around 1C.

The record low for the month of February is -29.4C, which hit twice, on Feb. 3, 1868, and Feb. 11, 1885.

“Those are probably never going to be broken,” said Flisfeder.

twilhelm@postmedia.com

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