Halifax area breaks temperature record from late 1800s

Soaring mid-September temperatures once again broke records in the Maritimes Wednesday.

Record highs

Halifax (Shearwater area) reached high temperatures of 29.5 C, breaking the previous high of 28.9 C set in 1899, with records being kept since 1871. The Halifax airport site also set an area record reaching 29 C, breaking the previous record of 28.6 C set in 2015, with records going back to 1953.

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Several sites in New Brunswick set new daily high temperature records for Sept. 18.

While not setting a record, Miramichi recorded a high temperature of 31.1 C, making it the hottest spot in the country Wednesday. It was the second day in a row that New Brunswick had the hottest temperature in Canada, with Bathurst reaching 31 C on Tuesday.

On Prince Edward Island, both Charlottetown and Summerside set daily high temperature records.

See the image below for a full list of new records reported by Environment Canada.

New daily high temperature records set for a Sept. 18 in the Maritimes.

Cooling off

The high-pressure system that assisted in producing the sunny, hot weather has weakened. That has allowed for cloud to increase over the Maritimes from both north and south. The increased cloudiness bringing most expected high temperatures into the low-to-mid 20s for the Maritimes on Thursday.

The cloud will also be accompanied by a change in wind direction Thursday afternoon and night. The wind becoming northeast, which will be a cooler wind for the region. High temperatures on Friday for the Maritimes are mostly expected to range 18 C to 22 C, which is near seasonal for this time of the year.

In most cases, the increased cloud isn’t expected to be accompanied by rain. The highest chance of showers and drizzle Thursday through Friday morning are in the southwest of Nova Scotia, particularly for Yarmouth, Shelburne, Queens and Lunenburg counties.