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Halloween records fall as summer-like heat sweeps Ontario, Quebec

Shattering record-high daily temperatures is a spooky way to end October, but that’s the pattern we’re dealing with across portions of Central Canada this week.

Readings across southern Ontario and southern Quebec reached heights you’d typically expect at the end of summer rather than on the doorstep of November.

Multiple communities broke their daily record high temperatures on Wednesday and again on Thursday.

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It’s not every year that trick-or-treaters get to head out without winter gear bulking up their costumes. This year saw one of the region’s warmest Halloweens in living memory.

Montreal, Gatineau, Sherbrooke, and Quebec City all saw record-high temperatures on Thursday, making for the warmest Halloween ever recorded in these Quebec cities.

Previously, the warmest Halloween on record in Montreal was a toasty 21.7°C back in 1956. The city easily bested that record on Thursday, with a daytime high of 24.4°C.

Ontario also witnessed its share of records on Thursday. Ottawa saw its warmest Halloween on the books with a high of 23.9°C on Thursday. Toronto-Pearson tied its daily record high of 22.8°C. Readings down in Hamilton (22.6°C) and Windsor (23.0°C) were the second-warmest ever seen on October 31.

This warmer pattern also extends to nighttime lows. Communities throughout the region could also see record-high overnight low temperatures after the sun sets on this month.

Why is it so warm to close out October? A low-pressure system over the northern Great Lakes teamed up with a centre of high pressure over the southeastern United States to pump unseasonably warm air north of the border.

This warmer-than-normal pattern is on borrowed time. Much more seasonable temperatures will move in behind that low-pressure system to close out the week. Expect changeable conditions to sweep through the region for the first full week of November, with temperatures possibly tilting to the warmer side of seasonal.

With files from MétéoMédia