Weather and Baseball: Toronto Blue Jays Opening Day Temperatures

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy

A sport played by athletes known as "the boys of summer", Canadians simply envision the beginning of spring when the Toronto Blue Jays begin swinging bats in the Rogers Centre. Since 1989, the enclosure of the Rogers Centre (originally christened as the Skydome) has provided a shield from weather elements. Not entirely replicating the idyllic summer days, the protection of the retractable roof is a little more hospitable for catching the early and even late season baseball games. Occurring at a time where Canadian winter is still biting up, the April 2nd season opener of the 2013 Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball year will welcome the new-look team R.A. Dickey, Jose Reyes and Jeremy Jeffress is a chilly reception from Mother Nature.

Last year, the Toronto Blue Jays home opener on April 9th was performed with a midday temperature of 11.4 degrees Celsius. A more resilient, lingering winter has promised that this season's game at the Rogers Centre will not be so mild. With a daytime high of just 3 degrees, game time for the Toronto Blue Jays versus the Cleveland Indians 2013 home and season opener will to riding on the freezing point. If the weather holds for tonight's game, this will be one of the coolest starts for a Blue Jays season opener. Accounting midday temperatures, The coldest day was the very first Toronto Blue Jays game at the CNE Grounds in 1977. At noontime on April 7th, 1977, it was -0.7 degrees Celsius for their match against the Chicago White Soxs.

It's worth noting the results in the first home games of past seasons have favoured cold weather days. The first Toronto Blue Jays baseball game on the frigid field in 1977 was a 9-5 win. Conversely, warmer temperatures have not treated the birds well. The warmest midday temperature for a season opening day was 18.4 degrees Celsius. The Toronto Blue Jays lost that game. In fact, the Canadian baseball team lost on six of the eight opening days where a noontime temperature was recorded in the double-digits.

The following list highlights the midday temperatures of Toronto Blue Jays home openers in relations to the game outcome:


List of Toronto Blue Jays Home Opener Temperatures

Year	Date	Noontime Temp.	Game Outcome
2012	April 9	11.4	Loss
2011	April 1	8.7	Win
2010	April 12	11.4	Loss
2009	April 6	0.9	Win
2008	April 4	2.8	Win
2007	April 9	2.1	Win
2006	April 4	5.2	Win
2005	April 8	12.6	Loss
2004	April 5	1.2	Loss
2003	April 1	0.7	Loss
2002	April 4	1.3	Win
2001	April 9	5.9	Win
2000	April 3	9	Win
1999	April 12	7.8	Win
1998	April 1	7.3	Win
1997	April 1	7.4	Loss
1996	April 9	3.2	Win
1995	April 26	7.2	Win
1994	April 4	8.2	Win
1993	April 9	16.5	Win
1992	April 10	9.6	Win
1991	April 8	18.4	Loss
1990	April 10	8.1	Win
1989	April 14	8.9	Win
1988	April 11	6.7	Win
1987	April 6	10.9	Win
1986	April 14	11.1	Loss
1985	April 16	17.7	Loss
1984	April 17	5.6	Win
1983	April 9	7.4	Win
1982	April 9	3.6	Loss
1981	April 13	9.4	Win
1980	April 14	3.4	Delayed due to rain
1979	April 13	8.2	Win
1978	April 14	4.5	Win
1977	April 7	-0.7	Win

Weather data courtesy of Environment Canada

City of Toronto Endured 21 Heat Alert Days in 2012

Photo credit: Chris Nagy

For anyone living or visiting the Canadian City of Toronto this summer, your time spent was more than likely accompanied by at least one Heat Alert. First used in 2001, the Heat Alert System was instituted as a way to warn citizens of days where higher than average heat-related injury or even fatality can occur.

From May 15th to September 30th, Toronto Public Health monitors the various meteorological conditions including temperatures, humidity, wind speed and cloud cover for conditions that compare to weather situations where higher levels of morality is possible. When potentially harmful weather conditions are detected, the Medical Office of Health for Toronto will issue a Heat Alert or a more severe Extreme Heat Alert warning the population as well as availing cooling centers for citizens of the major city. Summer of 2012 in the city of Toronto saw the second-highest recorded Heat Alert and Extreme Heat Alert days since the warning system was introduced.

For a total 21 times in 2012, the City of Toronto operated under the intervention of the Heat Alert System. Spanning from their first Heat Alert in May 28th, the Medical Officer of Heath declared the final Heat Alert on August 31st. Declaring a Heat Alert on 12 days in 2012 (two short of the highest amount of 14 issued in 2002), 9 days were also spent under an Extreme Heat Alert that required extra care during the summer. The Extreme Heat Alert count for 2012 is only half that of 2005 which is also the year where an all-time high of 26 overall Heat Alerts were issued over Toronto.

As typical with summer, the month of July provoked the most caution from the Medical Officer of Health. Dry conditions and a total of 12 days over where 30-degree Celsius temperatures reportedly baked the city through the course of the month led to a record-tying 11 days of overall Heat Alerts. In terms of other months of 2012, 6 Heat Alerts in the month of June and 3 in August is roughly average that  during monitored periods of other years. For the 5th time in 12 years under the Heat Alert System, May recorded a day of concern in 2012. However, 2012 ended a two-year streak of a Heat Alert in September.



Below is a set of historical charts compiled from data provided by the City of Toronto.


Days City of Toronto's Medical Officer of Health Declared
Heat Alert/ Type of Heat Alert

YEAR	HEAT ALERT	EXTREME HEAT ALERT	TOTAL
2001	6	3	9
2002	14	2	16
2003	3	3	6
2004	2	0	2
2005	8	18	26
2006	9	8	17
2007	10	5	15
2008	3	6	9
2009	1	2	3
2010	5	11	16
2011	7	5	12
2012	12	9	21

Heat Alert Occurrences According to Months of Year

YEAR	May	June	July	August	September
2001	0	3	2	4	0
2002	0	0	11	5	0
2003	0	4	2	0	0
2004	0	0	2	0	0
2005	0	13	9	4	0
2006	3	3	9	2	0
2007	2	6	3	4	0
2008	0	2	6	1	0
2009	0	2	0	1	0
2010	6	0	5	3	2
2011	1	1	8	1	1
2012	1	6	11	3	0

May 6th 2012 Supermoon Pictures Part 3

May 6th 2012 Supermoon Pictures Part 2

May 6th 2012 Supermoon Pictures Part 1

Tropical Cyclone Muifa NASA Satellite Image August 4, 2011



Photo Credit: NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response


Captured in the NASA LANCE satellite monitoring system is Tropical Cyclone Muifa south of the country of Japan. Taken on August 4th 2011 at 2:15 UTC, Tropical Cyclon Muifa was recorded with as Very Strong in intensitty. The cyclone has appeared to be weakening as the weather system nears land. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the Tropical Cylone Muifa will mostly miss Japan but could make landfall near Shanghai, China. 

NASA Satellite Image of Hurricane Eugene August 3rd 2011



Photo Credit: NASA/GSFC, Rapid Response


While Hurricane Emily has gathered in the United State's Atlantic Ocean side, another Hurricane is gathering up strength on the Pacific Ocean. Hurricane Eugene captured on the NASA Rapid Response satellite network, the image above was captured at 18:05 UTC (1:05 PM Eastern Time). Near the time of the image, Hurricane Eugene was measured with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour according to the National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center.