Summer 2011 Summary

A dry and hot Summer

The hottest July in over 50 years followed by a warm August and September resulted in a summer that was one and half degrees higher than average.  The 35.7°C on July 21st was the highest temperature we had seen in over 10 years.

Although the last half the summer was more or less average for precipitation it didn't make up for the very dry start to the summer that included the 7th driest July seen in the region.  The total precipitation was 208.9 mm compared to an average of 274.0 mm. 


This year's summer poll ended with 49% in the great catergory, 25% good, 14% OK, 5% bad, 4% total washout.  Although this summer was different than the last ones the results always seem to be same no matter what the weather.

Summary for Summer 2011:
Maximum Temperature 35.7°C
Minimum Temperature 3.5°C
Average Daily High Temperature 25.5°C (Long term average 24.2°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 14.1°C (Long term average 12.2°C)
Total Precipitation 208.9 mm (Long term average 274.0 mm)

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

Summer 2011 poll

Let's see what everybody thought of this year's warm and dry summer.

The poll is located at the top of the UW weather station blog.

August 2011 Summary

Another hot month with average precipitation

Another hot month coming in at 1.5 degrees warmer than average (the last time we had a colder than average one was back in March).  The warmth was pretty consistent with lots of days where the highs were over 24°C but it never got over 30°C. 

It was a pretty typical August in terms of precipitation, we got 79.7 mm which is within the average range for the month.  There were a couple of big days when we were hit by typical August convective storms like the 31.4 mm on the 9th or the 17.9 mm on the 14th.  After two dry months I think everyone's lawns and gardens will agree that this month made it a lot easier to survive.

The total precipitation for the year of 704.0 mm is still above the average for the end of August (596.0 mm).

Summary for August 2011:
Maximum Temperature 29.3°C
Minimum Temperature 11.3°C
Average Daily High Temperature 25.8°C (Long term average 24.7°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 14.6°C (Long term average 12.6°C)
Total Precipitation 79.7 mm (Long term average 87.5 mm)

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

Cold tonight

With a forecast low of 1, we might see the lowest temperature since early May overnight.

PS Hopefully the August summary will be available soon, it is being worked on.

July 2011 Summary

**Note that as a result of an incident of vandalism at the UW weather station this month, the temperature used for this summary is based on data from the Waterloo-Wellington Airport**

The hottest July in over 50 years that was also very dry

Do I really have to tell anyone that it was hot this month? I guess the question was how hot it was historically. First off, it was over 2 degrees above average overall for the month with 11 days above 30 and an average daytime high of 29.4°C. I had to go back to 1955 to find a hotter July (which had a scorching daily average high of 32.2°C) and overall the month was tied for the 6th warmest that has ever been recorded in the area.

The 35.7°C on the 21st was the highest temperature we have seen since August 8th, 2001 when it was 36.5°C.

Going along with the hot weather was the lack of rain, up until the last couple of days of the month it looked like it might be the second driest ever recorded (it would have been hard to beat the paltry 1.8 mm recorded in 1916). However, a couple of storms right at the end of July got us up to 22.3 mm and as there will a lot of months around with around 20 mm, this year ended up as the 7th driest in the region since records began in 1914.

This dry month means that the total for the year (624.3 mm) is creeping slowly closer to the average (509.0 mm). It was the second wettest first 6 months of the year, but now it is only the 9th wettest first 7 months of the year.

Summary for July 2011:
Maximum Temperature 35.7°C
Minimum Temperature 6.9°C
Average Daily High Temperature 29.4°C (Long term average 26.0°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 14.9°C (Long term average 13.8°C)
Total Precipitation 23.2 mm (Long term average 92.9 mm)

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