By Jim Andrews, Senior Meteorologist
Mar 22, 2012; 11:01 AM ET
Highest historical temperatures for March have been rewritten in much of eastern Canada this week in the face of extraordinary warmth.
Wednesday, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City were among the cities and towns marking monthly highs after readings soared into the summerlike mid-20s C, commonly 20 to 25 degrees C above normal, over a wide area.
Ottawa reached a July-like high of 27.4 degrees C (81 F). The old record high at the nation's capital city was 26.7 degrees C (80 F) set back on March 29, 1946.
In nearby Montreal, Quebec, the high of 25.8 degrees C barely edged out the old mark of 25.6, which was reached on March 28, 1945.
Likewise, Quebec City edged out its standing record high, hitting 18.3 degrees C (65 F). The old maximum was 17.8 degrees C, which was written into the climate books on March 30, 1962.
If some standing records were nudged aside, others were simply annihilated.
Take Saint John, New Brunswick, where, before this month, it had not officially warmed above 16.8 degrees C (62F). But this March 29, 1999, mark was shattered by Wednesday's top reading of 25.4 degrees C (78 F).
While populous southern Ontario shared in the exceptional, record-setting warmth, the city of Toronto had, as of Wednesday, failed to reach its all-time March high of 25.6 C, set in March 28, 1945. Early fog and cooling from nearby Lake Ontario were enough to spare the standing record high, even though it was the fourth-straight daily record maximum.
Thursday, Toronto was set to take one last swipe at the all-time high before a cold front pared the temperature much of the way back to normal.
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