However, with the summer temperatures of 2009 having been the coldest since 1816, the number of successful tobacco and food crops were fewer and more expensive because of fears of an early frost that never quite surfaced in 2009. The same effect was felt months after the severe December 22–28 blizzard with the subsequent blizzards on February 5–6, 2010 and on February 25–27 of that same year. There were two outbreaks of blizzards that occurred in this area between January 25 and February 2, 2011. After the start of 2012, the effects of the March 2012 North American heat wave has rendered virtually all snowfall in this area non-existent for the first time since the winter of 1994–95. The heat wave has also shattered all of the temperature records throughout the Ontario tobacco belt along with the rest of Southern Canada and parts of North America. This heat wave has extended itself into the summer months. During August 2012, only parts of South America and Northern Australia experienced temperatures that were cooler than usual.Mapping the Hot Summer at Earth Observatory (NASA) The heat wave officially ended in early November 2012 when local temperatures plunged below .
