Downtime

Very sorry about this extended downtime of the website.

It seems that an administrative error caused out phone line to the weather station being cancelled.

Aparantly getting it back takes a lot longer than getting rid of it.

Once it is up again readings will be back.

March 2012 Summary

The warmest March on record with below average precipitation

In the race for the warmest March ever in the region it wasn’t even in close.  The previous record of 6.9 degrees warmer than average back in 1945 was eclipsed by this year’s 7.6 degrees.  Although most of the month was warm, it was the historical one week period in the middle that really made this month unique.  There were 7 days in a row of above 20 degrees, again beating 1945 when there were 4.  The high temperature on the 22nd of 26.4°C was the warmest temperature ever seen during the month of March in the region, beating out March 26, 1945 when it was 26.1°C.

One last point, although 1998 was the warmest calendar year in the area, the warmest 12 month period was between March 1931 and February 1932, with an average temperature of 9.26°C.  The second warmest was an average of 9.13°C between February 1931 and January 1932.  Right now the past 12 months are third on the list with an average temperature of 9.11°C.  By my calculations, if April is more than 1.6 degrees warmer than average, it will be the warmest 12 months on record in the region.

Kind of lost in the warm temperatures we have seen lately is the lack of precipitation since the beginning of the year.  With 39.3 mm in March it was far below the average of 70.6 mm and the year to date is only 151.7 mm compared to the average of 189.9 mm.

Summary for March 2012:
Maximum Temperature 26.4°C
Minimum Temperature -14.0°C
Average Daily High Temperature 12.3°C (Long term average 3.3°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -0.4°C (Long term average -5.8°C)
Total Precipitation 39.3 mm (Long term average 70.6 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1971-2000 data for the Waterloo Wellington Airport)

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Winter 2011-12 Summary

University of Waterloo Weather Station Summary - Winter 2011/2012

The warmest winter ever

I think the headline says it all, at almost 5 degrees above average it was the warmest winter we have seen since records began in the area almost 100 years ago.  This was about half a degree more than the previous warmest winter of 1931-32.

The heat was also consistent with every month of the season well above average.  The last week of winter felt more like summer with temperatures around 20 degrees higher than average.

The longest streak of below zero temperature was for 4 days, this is quite a contrast to last year when between January 1^st and February 13^th it only went above zero for a single day.

Not much to say about the precipitation, the total of 158.3 mm was not that far off of the average of 189.3 mm.  It was wetter at the beginning of the winter and started to get drier in the second half.

During the winter we had 71 cm of snow (note that this is not the total for the entire snowfall season which is longer) compared to the average of 103 cm.  I think it seemed like a lot less as any snow we did have didn’t last very long.

In the end of winter poll done on the UW weather station blog, a total of 271 people showed that it was very polarizing winter.  A total of 43% called it either a great or good winter while 40% thought it was bad or a total washout.

Summary for Winter 2011/2012:
Maximum Temperature  22.2°C
Minimum Temperature -18.3°C
Average Daily High Temperature 3.0°C (Long term average -1.5°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -4.7°C  (Long term average -9.9°C)
Total Precipitation 158.3 mm (Long term average 189.3 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1971-2000 data for the Waterloo Wellington Airport)

Records so far in March

There will probably be some more all time records once the month comes to an end, but this streak of hot weather is really unique in our history for March.  Assuming we get to the forecasted temperatures for the next few days here are some records ready to fall:

The highest March temperature I was able to find was 26.1°C on March 26, 1945.  We may get higher than that on both Wednesday and Thursday.

The longest streak of days over 20 degrees was 4 also back in 1945, we may get to 7 in a row.

At 23.5°C we have already seen the highest March temperature since March 8th, 2000 when it was 24.0°C (and the winning day of the very first weather station contest).

So we shall see how hot it actually gets over the next few days.

Winter 2011-2012 poll

We are probably going to only have a half of the snow of a typical winter and nobody has to tell you that it was a lot warmer than average.

But overall what did you think of the winter this year?

Cast your vote in the UW weather station winter 2010-2011 poll here.

Voting ends the first day of spring!