If this summer felt hotter than usual in Barrie, you weren’t imagining it. According to climatologist David Phillips, the city saw an unprecedented number of scorching days.
“Barrie had more days above 30°C than Toronto. I have never, ever seen that before,” Phillips told Barrie 360. “We normally get seven or eight hot days all year. This summer, we had 27 — and three of those hit 35 or above. We usually only see that once a decade.”
That prolonged heat, paired with unusually dry conditions, left its mark on lawns, gardens, and local farmers. “It was the summer of summers,” Phillips said. “People loved it for swimming and holidays, but the landscape often looked drab, and the stress was real for those with health concerns or crops in the ground.”
As Barrie shifts into fall, the weather story isn’t over. Phillips said we’re in for a milder-than-usual autumn — one that could stretch warm days well into November. “Fall often gets shortchanged. We think we go from sweat to slush, but no — this year looks more summer-like than winter-like,” he explained.
That doesn’t mean the cold won’t eventually catch up. Frost is likely by early October, and snow could arrive before Remembrance Day. But Phillips cautioned against expecting a sudden return of summer’s intensity: “When people hear warmer than normal, they think July is coming back. No, this is fall warmth — 20 degrees, room temperature. What could be wrong with that?”
Looking further ahead, Phillips predicts a “carbon copy” of last winter, shaped by a weak La Niña pattern. That means some cold snaps, but nothing extreme. “Don’t fear. It doesn’t mean an ice storm or a brutal season. It should be a fairly typical Canadian winter,” he said.
Still, he emphasized that climate change is altering the patterns we once relied on. “It’s not futuristic, it’s here and now. It affects the very nature of El Niño and La Niña,” Phillips noted. “That’s why there’s always going to be a job for a weather person — because the swings and variability mean you can never fully predict it.”
For now, Barrie residents can take advantage of the bonus warmth. As Phillips put it: “Open that window, breathe that air. There’s no smoke, no haze. It’s good to be alive when you’re dealing with weather like this.”
