Are you ready for the summer? Some rain but mostly warm weather in the forecast

After all the rain and roller-coaster temperatures the GTA has seen since the spring, summer couldn’t have come any sooner.

Summer officially arrived at 12:24 a.m. on Wednesday. It is also the longest day of the year, with 15 hours of sunlight expected in the day.

The first day of summer will bring a mix of sun and cloud and a high of 24 C, 680 NEWS meteorologist Harold Hosein said.

He said that warmth will be typical during the height of the summer months, but to expect some active weather on very hot days.

“It appears to be a typical summer for July and August with temperatures in the mid- to high-20s. Expect some hot, dry days but also some thunderstorms, which could give us some heavy downpours,” Hosein said.

Last year, the City of Toronto issued 14 heat alerts and eight extreme heat alerts. So far this year, the city has had three heat alerts.

Hosein said the GTA won’t likely see the amount of rain the region experienced in the spring.

“We could see some rainy weather as head into the first few days of summer, but I expect that we will have some dry spells as we head into the later part of July,” he said.

Showers and isolated thunderstorms are in store for Thursday and Friday and daytime temperatures in the high-20s. There is a also a chance of showers over the weekend with temperatures in the low-20s.

While many are looking forward to the summer heat, mosquito season arrived early this season and experts predict it is going to be a bad one.

In April, Toronto and Region Conservation’s chief aquatic biologist said models indicate this summer will be worse than most and the mild winter is to blame for this early start.

The TRCA and public health departments across the region are most concerned about mosquito-borne illnesses, particularly the West Nile virus. They look for species of mosquitoes that can carry that disease; of the 67 species in Ontario, only about 13 carry it.