1/15/14, "Old fashioned Canadian winter," theweathernetwork.com, Gina Ressler
"Winter in Canada. Long. Cold. Brutal. But even by Canadian standards,
this winter has been especially tough. We've been spoiled by several
mild and pleasant winters in the last decade, but this season feels
different. For many it feels like an old fashioned Canadian winter,
where winter boots are well used and long johns are necessary.
The remarkable thing is that it’s been a very active winter right
across the country. Usually when one half of the country is cold or
stormy, the other half is relatively mild and calm. But almost all areas
of the country have been walloped this season. Here are a few
noteworthy stories:
Record snowfall in Calgary
Calgary
has received a massive amount of snow so far this winter. So much so
that city crews are running out of places to put it.
In a city where brown Christmases are just as common as white
Christmases, many residents haven’t seen snow piled this high in a
while. In fact, Calgary received a record amount of snow in the month of
December – 54 cm – the highest December snowfall in 112 years, and over
triple the monthly climate normal.
Winnipeg Stuck in a Deep Freeze
Winnipeg (or “Winterpeg”) is famous for its long winters and frigid temperatures, but this season has been especially tough.
A
cold air mass remained locked in place over the centre of the continent
in December, making it one of the coldest Decembers in Winnipeg since
the 1800s. That’s significant.
The cold temperatures have lingered into January as well, reaching a
bone-chilling -38.0C (-51 with the wind chill) on January 5th. Since
December 1st (the beginning of meteorological winter), sixteen days have
dipped below -30C. That’s a stark contrast to the (non-)winter of
2011-2012, when Winnipeg failed to reach minus 30 once.
Sub-Zero Streak and Record Snow Pack in Newfoundland
Cold
and snowy conditions weren't limited to western Canada. In
Newfoundland, Stephenville and Gander set a record for consecutive days
below zero.
Additionally, St. John’s, Gander, Deer Lake, and Stephenville all
finished the month with a record snow pack. St. John’s snow depth on
Dec. 31st was 66 cm, surpassing the previous December record of 64 cm in
1955.
#IceStorm2013 and #PolarVortex
Two major weather events had southern Ontario residents talking this winter. The worst ice storm in decades across the Greater Toronto Area
left thousands without power just before Christmas, and officials
estimate that the storm could end up costing the City of Toronto $100
million.
Then, in early January, an extremely cold air mass descended across
the US Midwest and into the Great Lakes region. This cold air mass was,
in fact, a manifestation of the polar vortex – a large upper-atmospheric
circulation, usually centered around the polar regions – diving
southward. Even though the polar vortex is a permanent fixture in the
northern hemisphere during winter, the buzz word took off on social
media.
The extreme cold was accompanied by very strong winds
across southwestern Ontario. This is noteworthy given that the coldest
temperatures usually occur under areas of high pressure with clear skies
and calm winds. As a result, London and Kitchener broke their all-time wind chill records,
hitting -42 and -41 respectively on the morning of January 7th. The
cold winds also brought a massive amount of lake effect snow to the snow
belt regions.
Oscillating Between Dry and Wet in BC
While
the rest of Canada dealt with cold and snowy conditions, much of BC had
it relatively easy in December. In fact, December 2013 was one of the
driest Decembers on record for the city of Vancouver, with only 70 mm of
precipitation recorded at the airport. (The climate normal is around
160 mm.)
The story changed in early January, when a train of Pacific lows impacted the south coast. Vancouver received over 100 mm of rain in five days, while the mountains received significant snow." via IceAgeNow.info
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