Winner for 2018 UW Weather Station Contest

It took a while, but finally on May 1st at 10:00 am the temperature went over 20°C for the first time this year when we saw a reading of 20.1°C.  This was much later than the previous latest date for the 20 years we have been running the contest, which was April 19th (in 2006).  Of course if we look back in the history of records in the region if there had been a weather station contest in 1919 the winner would only have been crowned on May 13th.

So congratulations to Will Gilbert who guessed a date that was almost 2 weeks later than the previous latest date in the contest, I highly respect that he was not afraid to choose a date outside of the recent historical pattern.

Here is his explanation of why he chose that date:

I figured that this year the weather was different from the past.
December was very cold, but the second half of February was very warm;
in fact, it was 16°C a few days before I voted. However that was about 6°C higher that it had ever been previously on that date, and it did not look as if that warm trend would go into March.

In second place was Greg Friday who also chose May 1st, but just a later time.

Both the winners will be receiving prizes graciously supplied by the UW Shop.

Thanks to everyone who entered and as always enjoy the weather.

April 2018 Summary

A wet April that was the coldest on record

Yes it was cold in April, but not just kind of cold, record breaking cold!  At 4 degrees below average, it was the coldest April we have seen in the region since records began back in 1915 beating the previous record set back in 1975.  It was also the most below average month since February of 2015.

It was cold right out of the gate as 20 of the first 21 days of the month were less than average and there were only a total of 6 days overall that were warmer than average.

During 3 really wet days between the 14^th and the 16^th there was a total of 72.6 mm of precipitation, this was almost more than monthly average total of 74.5 mm.  Not surprising the final total of 124.2 mm was well above average.

Let’s call an end to the snow season (I know famous last words), so the 10 cm we had in April puts the total for the snowfall season of 110.5 cm which is only about two thirds of the average of 159.7 cm.

Summary for April 2018:

Maximum Temperature 18.5°C

Minimum Temperature -8.0°C

Average Daily High Temperature 6.8°C (Long term average 11.5°C)

Average Daily Low Temperature -2.8°C (Long term average 0.8°C)

Total Precipitation 124.2 mm (Long term average 74.5 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1981-2010 data for the Waterloo-Wellington Airport)

March 2018 Summary

A cool and dry March

The temperature during March was pretty steady throughout the month, however as the temperature typically goes up by about 6 degrees from the beginning to the end, that means the overall temperature ended up about 0.4 degrees below average.  Although it is less than average it is still within the average range.

One interesting thing was we didn’t see any extreme temperatures, the highest temperature of 9.3°C was the lowest since 2001 and the lowest temperature of -10.7°C was the highest since 2000.  This 20 degree range compares to an average range of 35.8 degrees and is the 4th lowest range in the 100+ years of weather data in the region.

With a streak of 10 days with no precipitation (and a week before that with very little) it isn’t surprising that it was a below average month for precipitation with only 40.0 mm compared to the average of 61.0 mm.

There was only 9.5 cm of snow which is only about a third of the average for March of 26.5 cm.  That brings the total snowfall to 100.5 cm, much less than the average of around 150 cm for the end of this month.


Summary for March 2018:
Maximum Temperature 9.3°C
Minimum Temperature -10.7°C
Average Daily High Temperature 2.7°C (Long term average 3.6°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -5.5°C (Long term average -5.6°C)
Total Precipitation 40.0 mm (Long term average 61.0 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1981-2010 data for the Waterloo-Wellington Airport)

February 2018 Summary

A warm and wet February

The first half of the month was a bit colder than average, however the heat really kicked into gear in the second half resulting in an overall temperature that was a little over 2 degrees higher than average.

Within that second half was the high of 15.6°C on the 20th that was the highest February temperature we have seen in the over 100 years of weather data in the region.  Of course that might sound familiar as the previous highest February temperature was just last year when it got up to 15.1°C.

It was the wettest February in the last 5 years with 84.0 mm compared to the average of 54.9 mm.  About half of the monthly total came during 2 really wet days (19th and 20th) when a total of 38.8 mm of rain combined with warm temperatures to melt almost all of the snow that was on the ground.

Before that rain, we saw 25 cm of snow during the first half of the month which is close the average for February of 30.3 cm.  That brings the total snowfall to 91 cm, which is now getting farther behind the average of 125.6 cm for this time of year.


Summary for February 2018:
Maximum Temperature 15.6°C
Minimum Temperature -21.6°C
Average Daily High Temperature 1.5°C (Long term average -1.2°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -8.1°C (Long term average -9.7°C)
Total Precipitation 84.0 mm (Long term average 54.9 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1981-2010 data for the Waterloo-Wellington Airport)

Happy 20th Birthday to us!

Happy 20th Birthday to us!

We officially launched the University of Waterloo weather station on Feb 27, 1998. If you want to see what the webpage looked like in the early years you can see it here.

Thanks to everyone who has helped make the station possible for all these years and of course thanks to everyone who uses and enjoys the station.

Be sure to join us for the 20th anniversary talk on Monday (see the details here).