The weather story for the region in 2012 was the consistent warmth we saw during the entire year. In particular, the incredibly hot March that was over 7.5 degrees warmer than average making it the warmest ever in the region since records began back in 1914. It also included a week of temperatures above 20 degrees and the high temperature of 26.4°C on the 22nd was the warmest March temperature on record.
Although many people enjoyed this early taste of spring, many trees and plants that started to come out of hibernation during this period were damaged when more typical temperatures came back in April.
Overall, it was the second warmest year we have seen in the region with an average temperature of 8.93°C. This was only slightly less than the record set back in 1998 of 8.98°C. However, the period between July of 2011 and June of 2012 was the warmest 12 month period ever with an average temperature of 9.33°C.
Other notable temperature stories from the year were: February being the second warmest on record, only 2 colder than average days in July, and November being the end of 19 months in a row of warmer than average months.
On the precipitation side, 6 of the 7 months between February to August were all drier than average, so although we had a few wetter than average months during the fall, overall it was a dry year. We had 782.7 mm compared to the average of 904.0 mm making it the driest year since 2007. It may have been a close to a record dry year if not for September at 120.5 mm and the second wettest October ever in the region at 156.4 mm.
The wettest day of the year was June 1st with 56.7 mm of precipitation, this was more than came down during any month between February to August (if you take the first out of the total for June).
With the warm temperatures and low precipitation it is not surprising that the snowfall total at 86.5 cm was a just a little over half of the average of 159.5 cm. This was the least snowy calendar year since 1982 when we only had 77.8 cm.
One thing to keep in mind is that the kind of year we saw in 2012 might be something we will have to get used to in the future. According to many of the future climate models what we saw this year (warmer temperatures and drier summers) will be more common. Not that every year will be exactly like this, but the unique weather this year may not be so unique in the future.
Summary for 2012 (averages are calculated from 1971-2000 data for the Waterloo-Wellington Airport):
Average Daily High Temperature: 14.31 °C (average 11.89 °C)
Average Daily Low Temperature: 4.32 °C (average 1.71 °C)
Total Precipitation: 782.7 mm (average 904.0 mm)
Click on the image below to see the temperature chart:
Click on the image below to see the precipitation chart:
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4 comments:
Just for comparison's sake, what do the 2001-2012 averages look like as compared to the 1971-2000 averages used in brackets on the current postings?
-David P.
I'm wondering about that too. Isn't it about time we start using 1981-2010 averages?
I've thought a lot about this one (should really put it in the FAQ as I get it often). I really hesitate to move to 1981-2010 averages until Environment Canada does so. As the averages will change quite a bit, I don't want a situation where we say it is a colder than average month and EC says it was warmer than average for the same readings. As with most things to do with weather I'm probably over-thinking it.
In answer to the original questions I'll do a comparison of the averages and do a post about it when I have the time.
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