Is May always this cold on P.E.I.? New climate dashboard has the answers

CBC News has launched a new climate dashboard to help Canadians look at today's weather and how it connects to climate change.

In addition to the forecast, the climate dashboard makes it easy to compare the current weather to what it's been like in the past.

Here's how it all works.

To start, find the dashboard here.

The first time you open the dashboard, it should prompt you to select your location. Search for Charlottetown and select it.

If you're not prompted, you can change the default Toronto location by clicking on the home icon next to the city name and then searching for Charlottetown. You can change your home city at any time in this way.

Using the search box on the right, you can look at other cities and add them to your favourites.

There is also a scroll bar showing where temperature records are forecast to be broken on the current day. You can move the globe to those locations by hovering over the red or blue dots, or clicking on the scroll bar.

You can also change the view of the globe. The screenshot above shows the topography view. You can also look at the cloud cover or a heat map showing temperatures across the country.

Just below the globe, you'll find the forecast.

In addition to the forecast fed from Environment Canada, the dashboard includes how much the temperature varies from what's normal for that day. Currently, the normal is measured over the years from 1981-2010.

You'll notice most days in the next week have highs that vary a lot from normal, all but one by 5 C. This, in itself, is actually normal, explains CBC meteorologist Jay Scotland.

"A normal daytime high in spring is something we expect, but don't always get. It often depends which way the wind is blowing," said Scotland.

"A sunny day with a warm southerly wind may see the temperature soar well above average, much like today. Ocean water takes a lot longer to warm up than land though, which can really subdue temperatures when we have a strong enough wind from the north."