Seemingly record-breaking weather giving way to wintry chill

CTV Kitchener: Last day of warm weather? With temperatures set to plunge over the weekend, it seemed everybody was out for one last day of warm weather. Alexandra Pinto reports.

Temperatures of 19.2 C were measured at the Region of Waterloo International Airport on Friday – higher than anything Waterloo Region had ever seen before on a Nov. 18.

Heading into Friday, the record for the day was 17.8 C, which was recorded in both 1930 and 1958.

It was a similar story in cities across southwestern Ontario.

Measurements in Guelph topped out at 19.3 C – seemingly breaking the 17.8 C mark recorded there in 1958.

Brantford’s afternoon high of 19.8 C would, if confirmed, be a new record for that city as well. The hottest Nov. 18 temperature on record there is 18.9 C, which was experienced in both 1896 and 1921.

But after that last hurrah – which made tee times hard to come by at any golf courses that had yet to close down for the year, and packed parks across our region – temperatures are set to quickly plunge to levels much more normal for this time of year.

Environment Canada says temperatures will fall through the day Saturday.

In Waterloo-Wellington that means the mercury is forecast to hit 1 C in the afternoon, then drop down to -2 C overnight, with flurries expected.

Brantford and Brant County may escape some of the snowfall and may not be quite so cold Saturday night, while Oxford and Perth counties will see similar temperatures to Waterloo-Wellington, but with a risk of snow squalls.

Forecast highs for Sunday include 1 C in Oxford-Brant and Huron-Perth, and 0 C in Waterloo-Wellington.

While the first half of the work week may be slightly warmer, it will still be chillier than the 5 C daytime highs typically seen around this time of year – to say nothing of this week’s temperatures.