What is the Winter going to be like? You won't like the answer.

I always get a lot of questions this time of year from people I know about what kind of winter we are going to have. I hate to shatter their dreams of me knowing exactly how the next 3 months will play out, but the simple answer is I don't know and more importantly nobody really knows.

This doesn't stop various agencies putting out their seasonal predictions, here are examples of some of the forecasts for the upcoming winter (or at least December, January, and February) that I have seen:

Environment Canada:

The 2014-2015 AccuWeather Winter Forecast for Canada

The Weather Network:

 

The Weather Underground:

What I really don't like is that most of these agencies put out these forecasts without any mention of how much confidence they have in them or how well they have done in the past.  The exception to this is Environment Canada who also publish various measures of the confidence in their forecasts and how well their predictions have done in the past (see them in the images above).

Although a lot of media will just chose to publish the simple Environment Canada map showing the forecasted areas of above or below average temperature and precipitation, the other information is there for people who want to look.

The best place to see how the various models differ in their predictions is to look at the NMME forecasts.  This website compiles the forecasts from all the top models in the world and show their predictions for the following months.  Here are their predictions for the upcoming winter:

Temperature:

Precipitation:

You can see that for temperature, about half the models have colder than average temperatures for our area while the other half show warmer than average temperatures and that there is no consistent pattern for precipitation.  So you can take your pick of the forecasts based on what kind of winter you are hoping for and don't worry I won't judge you, unless of course you pick the GFDL, then we can no longer be friends (just kidding).

But more telling are the figures showing their predictions masked so that areas where the models have not shown skill in the past are greyed out:

Temperature;

Precipitation:

You can see that there are not many areas (especially for precipitation) where all the best models of the world have been able to accurately forecast 3 months into the future.

Ideally, what I would like to see is that anybody who publishes a long range forecast be made to also give an indication of how well their predictions have done in the past.  However, I think that most agencies wouldn't want to admit how much they don't know, but that is the state of seasonal forecasts worldwide at the moment.

In my opinion showing these long range forecasts alone leads the public to distrust all weather forecasts (short, medium, and long term) when they hear these various agencies make their predictions and the resulting season is totally different in the end.

So if you want my opinion of future weather I'll be happy to go out 10 days or so (and even that is sometimes pushing it) but after that your guess it truly as good as mine.

Frank

November 2014 Summary

The coldest November since 1996 with average precipitation

For those of you paying attention, you may have noticed the really cold week in the middle of November when often the high temperatures we saw were below the average low temperatures.  Although the rest of the month was mostly average, the cold week caused the overall temperature to be 1.7 degrees below average, making it the coldest November we have seen in the area since 1996.

It was going along as a slightly drier than average month and then we got hit with 38 mm of precipitation on the 24th.  This contributed to the total of 90.6 mm, above the average of 82.3 mm but still within the average range.

Of the precipitation we saw in November, 25 cm of it was snow, this is about double the average of 13 cm.

We have had 916.3 mm of total precipitation so far this year, which is higher than the average of 830.3 mm.  But as well, as the average annual precipitation for the area is 904.0 mm, we are guaranteed to have more than the average precipitation for the year.  However, unless we have a very wet December, the total for 2014 will probably fall within the average range.


Summary for November 2014:
Maximum Temperature 15.5°C
Minimum Temperature -15.5°C
Average Daily High Temperature 3.9°C (Long term average 5.9°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -3.2°C (Long term average -1.6°C)
Total Precipitation 90.6 mm (Long term average 82.3 mm)

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

October 2014 Summary

A warm October that was wetter than average

This October was 1.5 degrees above average which means that it was the second month in a row we had an above average month for temperature.  There was quite a spread between the daily highs and lows, with the daily highs being only half a degree above average while the daily lows were 2.5 degrees above.

Also interesting to note is that it is the fifth October in a row when the temperature has been above average.

For almost the entire month, the precipitation was hovering on the top end of the average range and in the end the total was just above that average range.  The total was 79.6 mm compared to the average of 67.1 mm.  Interestingly, there was only one day with more than 10 mm but the total number of days of precipitation of 19 was well above the average of 13.

At 825.7 mm we are still above the average of 748.3 mm going into the last 3 months of the year.

PS We are still looking for volunteers to help us measure precipitation, see the details here:
http://uwweatherstation.blogspot.ca/2014/10/looking-for-volunteers-to-measure.html

Summary for October 2014:
Maximum Temperature 21.3°C
Minimum Temperature -1.1°C
Average Daily High Temperature 13.7°C (Long term average 13.2°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 5.4°C (Long term average 2.9°C)
Total Precipitation 79.6 mm (Long term average 67.1 mm)

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

Looking for volunteers to measure precipitation

There is a great volunteer network or precipitation observers that was started back in 1998 in Colorado called the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network or CoCoRaHS.  From their website:

"CoCoRaHS is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow).   By using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive Web-site, our aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications."

There is lots of great information at the website:

http://www.cocorahs.org/Canada.aspx

Here you can find out more about the program, watch the introduction video, see the map of current volunteers locations, and of course sign up to be part of the network.

On the website there are also lots of training videos that show exactly how the do the precipitation measurements:

http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=training_slideshows

To join the network you have to purchase the measurement equipment, the total cost including shipping is around $40 at the moment.

We the UW weather station want to encourage people to join the CoCoRaHS network.  In particular we are looking for people in the vicinity of the weather station to join.  To that end we are willing to help subsidize half of the the cost ($20) of the measurement equipment for the first 5 people who join the network within the area within the red line on this map (basically between Erb Street West on the south, Conservation Drive on the north, Erbsville Road on the west and Weber Street on the east):

**Click on the image below if you can't see the entire image **

In order to qualify for the subsidy, you first have to email us ( weather@civmail.uwaterloo.ca ) and tell us you are interested, then sign up on the CoCoRaHS website as normal and buy the equipment.  Once you become part of the network (ie. appear on the map) we will give you the $20 subsidy.  Remember this offer is only for the first 5 people who email us and become part of the network.

Please leave any questions in the comments below.

First frost day in the region

At 3:15 am on October 12th, the temperature at the UW weather station went below zero for the first time this fall.  This is about the average date for the first frost for the last 16 years.  Note that this is the temperature recorded at the 2 m height of the temperature instrument, thus it is possible that the temperature would have been below zero close to the ground surface before this date.  A more precise term would probably be "air frost" for what we measure at the station.

See a full explanation here:

http://about.metservice.com/our-company/learning-centre/frost/

The last time is was below zero at the station was April 27 giving a growing season length of 168 days, which is a little longer than the average for the last 16 years which is 160 days.

September 2014 Summary

A very wet and hot September

Despite a cold snap in the middle of September, the overall temperature was a little over a degree above average.  This was a result of the really warm temperatures that ended the month which many thought it was the best week of the summer, which of course happened during the first week of autumn.

However, the real story of the month was the incredible amount of precipitation we saw.  The average amount for the month was already surpassed by the 10th of September.  The total of 159.8 mm was the third highest for the month of September in the 100 years of records in the region (behind 1986 at 216.6 mm and 175.3 mm in 1942).  All this happened despite it being dry for the last 9 days of the month.

As a consequence of this very wet month the total for the year of 746.1 mm is now higher than the average for this time of year of 683.5 mm.


Summary for September 2014:
Maximum Temperature 29.1°C
Minimum Temperature 2.6°C
Average Daily High Temperature 20.7°C (Long term average 20.0°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 9.9°C (Long term average 8.3°C)
Total Precipitation 159.8 mm (Long term average 87.5 mm)

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

Results of summer of 2014 poll

The results are in and over half of people thought it was either a great (34%) or good (28%) summer, while the rest of the categories were pretty even.

Here are the detailed results:

Great (Just the right temperature, free air conditioning)  16 (34%)

Good (Could have used a more few hot days)  13 (28%)

OK (I'm easy to please) 6 (13%)

Bad (Needed more warmth)  6 (13%)

Terrible (When did summer happen exactly?)  5 (10%)

Total votes: 46

Summer 2014 Summary

The third wettest summer in the region with average temperature

Although it was never really that hot during the summer (the maximum temperature was only 30.1 °C) it also was never cold, so the overall temperature was just a little (0.06 degrees) below average but still within the average range.

With 5 days of over 25 mm precipitation it isn’t hard to image that it was a very wet summer.  In fact, with 442.1 mm it was the third wettest summer we have seen in the 100 years of records in the region.  It was consistently wet with the only dry period occurring during the last half of August when we saw less than 5 mm.

Summary for Summer 2014:

Maximum Temperature 30.1°C

Minimum Temperature 2.6°C

Average Daily High Temperature 23.4°C (Long term average 24.2°C)

Average Daily Low Temperature 12.8°C (Long term average 12.2°C)

Total Precipitation 442.1 mm (Long term average 274.0 mm)

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

Summer of 2014 Poll

We want to know what you thought of the summer of 2014.

Vote at the poll on top of the UW weather station blog:

http://uwweatherstation.blogspot.ca/

August 2014 Summary

An average August for both temperature and precipitation

Well here is something you might not believe, but it was actually a bit warmer than average during the month of August.  Not by much, just 0.3 degrees so it is still within the average range, but I’m sure a lot of people would have expected it to have been a lot colder than average.  Although it didn’t get all that warm during the month, it was also never really cold for very long.

One day that did feel cold was August 14^th when the high only went up to 15.9°C, the last time it didn’t hit at least 16 during the month of August was back in 2009.

The fact that we didn’t hit 30°C during July or August was something that got a lot of attention in the media.  However, not getting to 30 during these months is something we have seen 4 times in the 17 years of the UW weather station.  Thus it is not something we expect every year, but it is certainly is not all that rare an occurrence.

Although the 91.6 mm we saw in August was within the average range for the month, this really doesn’t tell the entire story.  Almost 2/3 of the precipitation for the month came down on the 2^nd when 59.4 mm of rain fell (this was the wettest single day since July 23rd, 2010 when we had 62.5 mm).  Of that total, 53.6 mm came in a single hour (3:34 to 4:33 pm), this is something that has only about a 4 percent chance of happening in any given year.

For the first 7 months of the year, the total precipitation of 596.0 mm is very close to the 586.3 mm that we would expect.

Summary for August 2014:

Maximum Temperature 29.9°C

Minimum Temperature 9.0°C

Average Daily High Temperature 24.4°C (Long term average 24.7°C)

Average Daily Low Temperature 13.5°C (Long term average 12.6°C)

Total Precipitation 91.6 mm (Long term average 87.0 mm)

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

Summary of September 5th storm

During the storm on September 5th we saw just a little over 40 mm of precipitation and also of note was the temperature drop of almost 7 degrees between 7:00 pm and 7:15 pm.

July 2014 Summary

A cold and very wet July

After a couple of warmer months, July went back to the colder temperatures we saw at the beginning of the year, in fact it was almost as if June and July switched places.  Although it was never cold for more than a few days in a row, there were also only a few warmer than average days.  Overall it was 1.3 degrees below average making it the coldest July since 2009.

There were not that many days that had precipitation, but when it did come down it came down hard.  First on the 7th almost 60 mm came down, then 23 mm on the 15th, and finally 40 mm between the 27th and 28th.  The total for the month was 165.7 mm, well above the average of 92.9 mm and the 5th wettest July we have seen in the region since records began 100 years ago.

This very wet month brought the total precipitation for the first half of the year (503.4 mm) back up very close to the average (509.0 mm).


Summary for July 2014:
Maximum Temperature 29.0°C
Minimum Temperature 8.7°C
Average Daily High Temperature 23.9°C (Long term average 26.0°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 13.2°C (Long term average 13.8°C)
Total Precipitation 165.7 mm (Long term average 92.9 mm)

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

June 2014 Summary

A warm and dry June

For the first time since October of last year it was a warmer than average month.  It never got extremely hot (only one day above 30°C) but there were enough warm days to make the overall temperature 1.7 degrees higher than average.

Although we had the average of 12 days with some precipitation and that precipitation was very hard at times, there was only day with more than 10 mm.  The total of 52.3 mm was well below the average of 80.0 mm for June.

As only 2 of the first 6 months of 2014 had above average precipitation, it is no surprise that the total for the year so far of 332.1 mm is below the average of 416.1 mm.


Summary for June 2014:
Maximum Temperature 30.1°C
Minimum Temperature 7.1°C
Average Daily High Temperature 25.2°C (Long term average 23.6°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 13.0°C (Long term average 11.3°C)
Total Precipitation 52.3 mm (Long term average 80.0 mm)

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

Spring 2014 Summary

The coldest Spring in 30 years with average precipitation

The season started out very cold for most of the first half and then was closer to average in the second half.  Overall it was 2 degrees below average, making it the coldest Spring since 1983.

Although the Spring started off dry, the rest of the season was wetter with the total coming in on the low end of the average range.

Summary for Spring 2014:
Maximum Temperature 28.1 °C
Minimum Temperature -16.4 °C
Average Daily High Temperature 13.6 °C (Long term average 15.9 °C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 2.7 °C  (Long term average 4.4 °C)
Total Precipitation 171.0 mm (Long term average 219.5 mm)

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

May 2014 Summary

May was just within the average range for both temperature and precipitation 

The daily high temperatures of May were just a little below average while the daily low temperatures were 1.4 degrees higher than average. As a result, the overall temperature was higher than average for the first time in 6 months (but as it was only 0.6 degrees above, it was still within the average range).

Also on the edge of the average range was the precipitation (63.6 mm) for the month, but this time on the low end of the range. About 40 mm of this precipitation came down between the 13th and the 15th while hardly any fell after the 21st.

So far this year we have seen 276.7 mm of precipitation which is below the average of 340.2 mm.


Summary for May 2014:
Maximum Temperature 28.1°C
Minimum Temperature 1.7°C
Average Daily High Temperature 18.8°C (Long term average18.9°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 8.0°C (Long term average 6.6°C)
Total Precipitation 63.7 mm (Long term average 75.7 mm)


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

April 2014 Summary

Another cold month but with average precipitation

The overall temperature in April was just cold enough to make it below average, but it was the closest to the average in 6 months at 0.8 degrees lower.  Looking at the graph you can see the incredibly steady (almost) 48 hours drop in temperature from the high of 19.8°C on the14th to the low of -9.0°C on the 16th.

Up until the last two days it might have been a below average month for precipitation, but those two days pushed the total of 90.9 mm right to the top of the average range (the top of the range is 91.0 mm).  The total for the year so far is 214.7 mm which is somewhat below the average at this time of 264.4 mm.

The 3.5 cm of snow in April topped off the snowfall season at 167.5 cm, which was really not that much more than the average of 159.5 cm.  But, as has been previously noted it might have seemed like a lot more as we didn’t get a mid-winter thaw.


Summary for April 2014:
Maximum Temperature 22.3°C
Minimum Temperature -9.0°C
Average Daily High Temperature 10.6°C (Long term average 11.4°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -0.2°C (Long term average 0.6°C)
Total Precipitation 90.9 mm (Long term average 76.9 mm)

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

2014 UW weather station ends

We have a winner!
 
Well after our really cold winter, it wasn't the latest that the weather station contest ended.

Congratulations to Sarah Catherine Ptatschek for only being 15 minutes off of the correct time of 5:00 pm
when the temperature first hit 20.0 C .

She also had an interesting reason for chosing this date:
13 is my lucky number and I think it was between May 13th or April 13th, the weather has been so weird I would normally go for May, but I am trying April this year!

and in second place we have H.T. Lam whose reason was a bit more direct:
No reason - just getting tired of the long winter .


Let's do it again next year.

Could this be the end?

Could the weather station contest end tomorrow?

Latest forecast from EC has the high on Sunday going up to 20C.

March 2014 Summary

The second coldest and third driest March in the region


This was the second coldest March in the area since records began back in 1915, the coldest was back in 1960.  Unlike February, this month we had a few breaks when the temperature went above zero, but of course most of the time it was well below average.

Overall, it was 5.6 degrees colder than average, this now makes it the most colder than average month in the history of the UW weather station, just surpassing last month. It is also quite the contrast to just 2 years ago when it was 7.6 degrees above average.

It was a very dry month with only 17.5 mm of precipitation, this means it was the 3rd driest March in the region.  In a typical March we would get around 45 mm of rain and 24 cm of snow, this year we had 16.5 cm of snow and hardly any rain.


Summary for March 2014:
Maximum Temperature 10.9°C
Minimum Temperature -26.4°C
Average Daily High Temperature -1.0°C (Long term average 3.5°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -12.4°C (Long term average -5.6°C)
Total Precipitation 17.5 mm (Long term average 70.6 mm)

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

Winter 2013/14 Summary

The coldest winter in 20 years, but (perhaps) surprisingly not that wet

Very cold, that is all that really needs to be said about this winter.  At 4 degrees below average it was the coldest winter we have seen in the region since 1993/94.  What also made it feel colder was the fact that we didn’t see the typical thaws that we often get in January or February.  This also meant that pretty much all the snow that fell since October was there in the snowbanks for the entire winter for all to look at every day.

In the media stories about this winter I have seen reports varying from the coldest winter in 20 years to the coldest in 38 years.  It really depends on the station you are looking at as the 1993/94 winter was just a little colder than this past one so I think that is the reason for the variation in the records.

It was pretty wet during the first half of the winter, but then the second half was very dry.  The total precipitation was 165.3 mm which is less than the average of 184.5 mm, but enough to be within the average range.

As it strange to talk about the snow just during the winter season, for the entire snowfall season we have had 164 cm compared to the average at this time of year of 148.5 cm.  So above average but not really by that much.


Summary for Winter 2013/14:
Maximum Temperature 9.8°C
Minimum Temperature -31.2°C
Average Daily High Temperature -4.6°C (Long term average –1.4°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -14.9°C (Long term average -9.8°C)
Total Precipitation 137.8 mm (Long term average 184.5 mm)


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

February 2014 Summary

The coldest February since 1979 that was also dry

It was a very cold month, more than 5 degrees below average making it the coldest February since 1979.  There was only a brief few days above 0 and the rest of the time it was not just a little cold but very cold. Overall it was the most below average of any month in the 16 year history of the UW weather station.

The low of -31.2 on February 12th was the coldest temperature since January 27th, 2005 when it was -32.2 and the second lowest February temperature I was able to find in the region (the coldest being all the way back in 1934).

The month started off a bit wet, but then it was pretty dry for the rest of the month putting the total of 30.6 mm below average overall.  The 44.0 cm of snow in February was more than the 30.5 cm average.  It may be surprising to know that the 147.5 cm of total snowfall really isn’t that much more than the average for this point in the season of 141.5 cm.

As we have now passed meteorological winter (the months of December, January, and February) the numbers for temperature show that it was the coldest met winter since 1977.


Summary for February 2014:
Maximum Temperature 4.4°C
Minimum Temperature -31.2°C
Average Daily High Temperature -5.9°C (Long term average -1.9°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -17.2°C (Long term average -10.5°C)
Total Precipitation 30.6 mm (Long term average 52.6 mm)

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

Above zero?

If the temperature goes above zero in the next few days it will be for only the second time since January 14th.  Although the 0.3°C on Feb 1 was hardly a real break from the cold.

January 2014 Summary

A very cold January with average precipitation

It was certainly a cold month that, even with almost a week of above average temperatures, ended up being 3 degrees colder than average.  This was quite a contrast to the last 2 years when it was 3 degrees above.

The low temperature on the morning of January 22nd of -29.8°C was the coldest we have seen since January 28th of 2005 when it was -30.5°C.  But perhaps even more interesting was that on January 7th the temperature only got up to -18.7°C, this was the lowest daily high temperature since January 19th, 1994.

A lot of the precipitation for the month came as rain during the warm up we had on the 11th, while the total of 74.1 mm was higher than the average of 64.4 mm but till within the average range.

The snowfall for January was 54.0 cm compared to the average of 43.5 cm, for the snowfall season going back to last year what we have seen so far (103.5 cm) is pretty close to the average (108.0 cm).  However, since we haven’t had a snow reset this year a lot of the snow that has fallen is still there, so it might seem like we are having a bigger snow season that we really are.


Summary for January 2014:
Maximum Temperature 5.8°C
Minimum Temperature -29.8°C
Average Daily High Temperature -6.0°C (Long term average -3.1°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -14.7°C (Long term average -11.1°C)
Total Precipitation 74.1 mm (Long term average 64.4 mm)

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

2013 Summary

University of Waterloo Weather Station Annual Summary - 2013

This year the weather story in the region was the amount of precipitation we saw throughout the year.  The total amount we got at the UW weather station was 1204.7 mm, not only was this much more than the average of 904.0 mm, but it was also the most I was able to find ever recorded in the 99 years of records in the region.  This total was quite a contrast to 2012 when we only got 782.7 mm.

I should also mention that this amount of precipitation was not the same as was recorded at the most visible weather station in the area at the Waterloo Wellington Airport.  I did a bit of investigation and looked at precipitation measured at gauges operated by the Grand River Conservation Authority (big thanks to the GRCA) and historical Environment Canada weather radar.  When comparing all this information, the readings seen at the UW weather station were reasonable and based on all the evidence I’m going to stick with the precipitation numbers from the UW weather station.

The year was very evenly wet with only 3 months that were drier than average, the standouts were July (most since 1991) and October (second wettest ever in the region).  Then there was the 24 hour period in September when we had an astonishing 94.1 mm of precipitation.

Even with the large amount of precipitation seen during the year, the total snowfall for the year was 179 cm, which is not that much over the average of 159.5 cm.  Interestingly, over half of the total for the year came in February, which was the second snowiest on record in the region.

As for temperature, overall it was 0.4 degrees above the 1971-2000 average (yes that is still the official 30 year average) which puts it somewhere between the 15th and 20th warmest we have seen.

January was very warm but then a cold late winter and early spring left people wondering if summer would ever come.  Once it did, the summer was about a degree hotter than average.  This heat lasted until about mid-October when the end of the year chill came in, ending with a December that was the most below average month in almost 3 years.

The high of 14.2°C on the 30th was tied for the second warmest January day we have seen in the region since records began almost 100 years ago.  Then there was the dramatic change in temperature from 5:15 pm to 5:30 pm on July 19th, when the temperature dropped almost 9.5 degrees, this was the largest 15 minute temperature drop in the 15 year history of the UW weather station.  On September 10th the temperature got up to 34.7°C, this was the hottest September day since 1953 (36.7°C), and the 4th hottest September day ever in the region.

With the earliest date for the last frost of the year (April 26th) and the latest date for the first frost (October 29th), it follows that it was the longest frost-free season we have seen in the region at 186 days.


Summary for 2013 (averages are calculated from 1971-2000 data for the Waterloo-Wellington Airport):
Average Daily High Temperature: 11.92 °C (average 11.89 °C)
Average Daily Low Temperature: 2.43 °C  (average 1.71 °C)
Total Precipitation: 1204.7 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:

December 2013 Summary

The coldest December in over 10 years that was also wet

No other way to say it, that was a cold December.  At 1.6 degrees less than average it was the coldest December since 2000 and the most below average for any month since January of 2011.

With 98.0 mm of precipitation for December, it was an above average month when compared to the average of 71.1 mm.  It was the wet weekend that occurred around the ice storm that shot us from below to above average.  In fact, those days might actually have been a bit wetter, as some of the “precipitation” that was measured once it got warm a few days after the ice storm was probably the result of ice falling from the sides of the sensor.  But, with no evidence of this happening, all we can do is report the numbers as they came in and let people make their own interpretation.

The total snowfall for the month was 46.5 cm, this is a bit more than the average of 38.5 cm for December.


Summary for December 2013:
Maximum Temperature 12.4°C
Minimum Temperature -24.1°C
Average Daily High Temperature -2.3°C (Long term average -0.4°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature -8.8°C (Long term average -7.5°C)
Total Precipitation 98.0 mm (Long term average 71.1 mm)

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