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Thanks to Rob Kuhn, Ontario Weather Centre In the summer, thunderstorms usually come down from the north or northwest with a strong cold front. Lake Erie suppresses thunderstorm development especially in the spring when the water is much colder than the land. There are several instances each summer where vivid lightning and sheet lightning displays light up the northern sky and nothing ever comes of it. Lake breezes often temper the intense summer heat at Long Point. For example, it may be 30 degrees C in Simcoe, while the temperature at Long Point would be 25 degrees C. very close to the water temperature of Lake Erie. Temperatures in Norfolk County are tempered by Lake Erie and as the lake warms up quickly in the summer, there is usually 3-4 months of temperatures nearly always between 18 and 27 degrees C. The moderating influence of Lake Erie combined with the latitude and lower elevation are the reasons why the Carolinian forest thrives in Norfolk County. Snow has probably fallen in every month except June..July..and August. There has been a trace in September..as well as occasional wet snow events during late cold snaps in May. However snow cover in the winter months is often discontinous, and often disappears nearly completely several times most winters. Lake effect snowsqualls can nail the area in a cold southwesterly flow off of Lake Erie. This effect practically vanishes in the mid to late winter when the lake freezes over. Lake effect flurries from Lake Huron can sometimes reach Nofolk County, although snowfall amounts from these are generally insignificant (a trace). There is a climate station at Port Dover, Simcoe and an automatic weather station near the tip of Long Point (typical of a pure marine environment). |
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| Average Temperatures for Port Dover (in degrees Celcius) | |||||||||||||
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year | |
| Max | -1.3 | -1.1 | 3.6 | 10.8 | 17.7 | 23.2 | 26.2 | 25.4 | 21.4 | 14.7 | 7.2 | 1.1 | 12.4 |
| Min | -8.6 | -9.2 | -4.5 | 1.3 | 6.9 | 12.4 | 15.3 | 14.6 | 11.1 | 5.2 | 0.0 | -5.6 | 3.2 |
| Mean | -5.0 | -5.2 | -0.4 | 6.1 | 12.3 | 17.8 | 20.8 | 20.1 | 16.2 | 10.0 | 3.6 | -2.2 | 7.8 |
There is no rainfall data available for Port Dover, so the data for Simcoe was used:
| Rainfall for Simcoe (in mm) | ||||||||||||
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| 78.1 | 69.8 | 76.7 | 76.7 | 71.4 | 75.2 | 71.4 | 74.6 | 74.1 | 70.2 | 75.1 | 77.3 | 891.0 |