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Compared to the last several months of winter wind and chill, Windsorites can look forward to a weekend that should feel downright balmy.
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Environment Canada is forecasting a light and bright start to the weekend with sunny skies and a forecasted high of 11C on Saturday. Heavy showers are expected into the night but the low will still be an acceptable 8C.
While that may feel relatively warm, it’s not a record. The highest temperature on record for March 5 is 19.5C in 2004.
But at least you won’t be shivering and shoveling. The lowest temperature for the day, recorded in 1948, was -15.6C. The greatest March 5 snowfall happened in 1999 with 13.6 cm. The March 6 record for most snow on the ground — a total of 30 cm — was set in 1960.
The temperature will creep up even higher on Sunday.
Throughout the week, Environment Canada had been forecasting a high of 19C for Sunday. That would have matched a record set in 2009.
But on Friday afternoon, the weather agency scaled that prediction back to 13C with a 60 per cent chance of rain showers. The temperature will drop considerably Sunday night with a low of -1C and possible periods of snow.
But things could still be much worse. The lowest temperature on record for March 6, set in 1960, was -17.2C. On March 6, 1999, the Windsor region was buried under 15.6 cm of snowfall, a record for the day that still stands.
March 6, 1960, holds the record for most snow on the ground on that date with 30 cm.