May 2025 Summary

A very average month of May 

A warmer first half of the month was offset by a cooler second half, leading to an overall temperature that was right on the average for the month.  The temperature last went below zero on May 9, which is close to the average date in the history of the Soulis memorial weather station. 

There were a couple of wet days during the month, but nothing out of the ordinary.  The final total was 88.2 mm, the wettest for May since 2019, but still within the average range.  So far the total for the year is 379.2 mm, which is close to the average of 340.2 mm.

Summary for May 2025:

Maximum Temperature 28.0°C
Minimum Temperature -0.9°C
Average Daily High Temperature 18.9°C (Long term average 19.1°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 7.5°C (Long term average 7.3°C)
Total Precipitation 88.2 mm (Long term average 73.8 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1998-2024 data from the Soulis Memorial Weather Station at the University of Waterloo)

April 2025 Summary

A warm April with one really, really wet day

After a cool start to the month, the second half was somewhat warmer.  The overall temperature was a little over 2 degrees warmer than average, making it the warmest since 2017 and the third warmest in the over 25 year history of the E.D. Soulis weather station.

April 3 will go down as one of the wettest days in the history of the region, starting overnight the precipitation started as a wintery mix before changing over to steady rain that peaked in the late morning.  The total for the day was 78.8 mm, the wettest single day since Jan 11, 2020 when we had 79.6 mm and close to the average for the entire month of 82.3 mm.

The rest of the month was actually pretty dry with the total only being 113.2 mm, higher than average, but 4 of the past 10 years have had higher totals.  Over the first four months of the year there has been 291.0 mm of precipitation, which is a little more than the average of 264.4 mm for this time of year.

We got 2.5 cm of snowfall during April putting the total at 196.5 cm.  This means we are (probably) ending the 2024-25 snowfall season much higher than then the average of 159.7 cm.  

Summary for April 2025:

Maximum Temperature 29.3°C
Minimum Temperature -7.5°C
Average Daily High Temperature 15.2°C (Long term average 11.5°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 1.4°C (Long term average 0.70°C)
Total Precipitation 113.2 mm (Long term average 82.3 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1998-2024 data from the Soulis Memorial Weather Station at the University of Waterloo)

March 2023 Summary

A very warm March with average precipitation and hardly any snow

There was a 2 week period in the middle of the month with temperatures well above average, outside of that period there were only a few cold days.  This resulted in the overall average temperature to be over 2 degrees above average.  But interestingly, it was still only the fifth warmest March in the past 10 years.

During that mid-month warm period the annual weather station contest ended at 3:45 pm on the 19th when the temperature first hit 20°C. Congratulations to the contest winter Richard Goetz.

Even with the absence of very large storms during the month, there was usually some precipitation every few days.  This resulted in the total for March of 65.2 mm just a tiny bit above the average of 63.6 mm.

The warm temperatures meant that the snowfall for the month was only 3.0 cm, obviously much less than the average of 26.5 cm.  However, for the snowfall season we are at 194.0 cm, compared to the average of a typical season of 159.7 cm.

Summary for March 2025:

Maximum Temperature 20.7°C
Minimum Temperature -17.2°C
Average Daily High Temperature 7.3°C (Long term average 4.2°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -3.9°C (Long term average -5.5°C)
Total Precipitation 65.2 mm (Long term average 63.6 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1998-2024 data from the Soulis Memorial Weather Station at the University of Waterloo).

February 2025 Summary

A very snowy February, but with average temperatures

The cold temperatures of January continued into the first 3 weeks of February.  If that had continued it would have been one of coldest we have seen in a while, however the last week saw six days with highs above zero.  This resulted in the overall temperature being just 0.2 degrees below average, keeping it within the average range.

Looking at the entire meteorological winter (December-January-February), the average temperature was a little more than one degree below average.  This made it the coldest winter since 2014-15.

Of course we had those couple of big storms in the middle of the month, while the rest of the month saw pretty typical precipitation.  This resulted in the total for the month of 65 mm being just bit higher than the average of 63.5 mm.

With the cold temperatures, most of that precipitation came down as snow, resulting in an incredible 77.5 cm of snowfall during February.  This is more than double the average of 30.3 cm and the most we have seen for the month since the 93.0 cm in 2013.  The total for the snowfall season so far is 191.0 cm, also well above the average of 125.6 cm and the most since 2008.  Given that we never had a mid-winter thaw, pretty much all that snow is still sitting on everyone’s lawn resulting in accumulations not seen in many years.

It is also that time of year for the annual Weather Station Contest where you have to guess when the first time the station’s temperature will go above 20°C.  You can get details about the contest and put in your guess here: https://weather.uwaterloo.ca/contest2025/contest_entry_period_2025.asp

Summary for February 2025:

Maximum Temperature 7.9°C
Minimum Temperature -19.7°C
Average Daily High Temperature -2.5°C (Long term average -1.3°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -10.0°C (Long term average -10.8°C)
Total Precipitation 65.0 mm (Long term average 63.5 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1998-2024 data from the Soulis Memorial Weather Station at the University of Waterloo).

January 2025 Summary

A cold and dry January, but with lots of snow

With the coldest days we have seen since February of 2022, it follows that January was below average by a little over one degree.  The temperature went below -20°C for three days in a row between the 20th and the 22nd, that hasn’t happened since January of 2022.  This is the first month that was in the below average range since August 2023.  

The total precipitation of 47.6 mm was much less than the average of 72.0 mm.  However, even though the overall precipitation was less than average, with the cold temperatures we still got 68.5 cm of snowfall in January, which is above the average of 43.7 cm for the month.  Overall for the snowfall season we have had 113.5 cm compared to the average of 95.3 cm for this point in the season.

Summary for January 2025:

Maximum Temperature 2.4°C
Minimum Temperature -22.1°C
Average Daily High Temperature -3.5°C (Long term average -2.2°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -11.5°C (Long term average -10.2°C)
Total Precipitation 47.6 mm (Long term average 72.0 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1998-2024 data from the Soulis Memorial Weather Station at the University of Waterloo)