Spring 2013 Summary

The very typical Spring for both temperature and precipitation

There were the usual temperature swings during this season that borders winter and summer, but it was never really hot or cold for a very long time. Overall it was just 0.2 degrees colder than average which puts it solidly in the average range.

After a slow start to the spring precipitation (it was dry until the first week of April), the rest of the season was wetter with the total coming in on the high end of the average
range.

Summary for Spring 2013:
Maximum Temperature 28.6 °C
Minimum Temperature -9.2 °C
Average Daily High Temperature 15.1 °C (Long term average 15.6 °C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 4.8 °C (Long term average 4.2 °C)
Total Precipitation 256.4 mm (Long term average 219.5 mm)

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

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May 2013 Summary

A warm month with average precipitation

If you take a look at the graphs for this month, you can see that the temperature went back and forth between extended warm and cold spells.  As the warm spells lasted longer than the cold ones, it was 1.3 degrees hotter than average for the month overall.  This makes it the first warmer than average month since January.

Most of the precipitation for the month happened during just 3 days (the 10th, 28th and 29th).  This was enough to make it almost a perfectly average month (73.3 mm in May compared to the average of 75.7 mm).

Even with this average month, we are still about 100 mm over the precipitation we expect at this time of the year (340.2 mm compared to 448.3 mm).

Summary for May 2013:
Maximum Temperature 28.6°C
Minimum Temperature 0.5°C
Average Daily High Temperature 20.1°C (Long term average 18.9°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 7.9°C (Long term average 6.6°C)
Total Precipitation 73.3 mm (Long term average 75.7 mm)

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

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Will it go below zero?

The temperature will get close to freezing overnight between Sunday and Monday.

If it goes below zero it will a bit later than usual, but it was only back in 2009 when it last went below zero on the 18th of May.

April 2013 Summary

A very wet and cold April 

The temperature was back and forth all month, sometimes feeling like summer and then winter within the space of a few days. Nothing demonstrates this better than a high of 25.3°C on the 18th that was followed 2 days later by a high of only 3.0°C.

The cold temperatures won out in the end as overall it was 0.8 degrees below average. This means it was the third colder than average month in a row, something we haven’t seen in 2 years.

April was a very wet month highlighted by 66.3 mm of precipitation between the 8th and the 12th. When you add it all up we got 118.9 mm which was well above the average of 76.9 mm.

Another wet month means that the total precipitation we have seen for the year (374.6 mm) is well above the average for the end of April (264.4 mm). Last year it took until August 10th to get this much.

I hate to jinx it, but let’s say the snowfall season is actually over (we only measured 1 cm this in April), the total was 152 cm putting us just below the average of 159.5 cm.

Summary for April 2013:
Maximum Temperature 25.3°C
Minimum Temperature -7.3°C
Average Daily High Temperature 10.3°C (Long term average 11.4°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 0.1°C (Long term average 0.6°C)
Total Precipitation 118.9 mm (Long term average 76.9 mm)

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

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We have a winner!

Congratulations to Scott Bacon who was the winner of this year's UW weather station contest.  In second place goes to Elisa McBride.

In celebration, anyone who is near the Waterloo campus can meet at E2-3321 at 4:30pm for a walk to the Grill Restaurant at the University Plaza for an ice cream cone (sadly, our prize budget does not allow us to buy ice cream for everyone).

The risk of the severe thunderstorm late this afternoon could also make for a dramatic walk.