A mild February that was both wet and dry

It was a mild February in Victoria, with a mean temperature of 8.0 degrees, compared with the 30-year February average temperature of 6.5 degrees.  That makes it the 4th warmest February on record at Victoria Gonzales (with 118 years of record-keeping), behind 2015 (which was a record-shattering 8.9 degrees), 1998 (8.2 degrees), and 1963 (8.1 degrees).  The average daily maximum and minimum temperatures this February were 10.4 and 5.6 degrees.  The warmest temperature was 14 degrees on February 9 and the coolest was 3 degrees on February 1.  There were 15 days when the temperature topped 10 degrees, compared with the average of 8.9 days.  Last February, the temperature topped 10 degrees on 21 days.

The above normal temperatures in February continued the trend of the past couple of years.  Since the beginning of 2014, 23 of the past 26 months have been warmer than the 30-year average.

The chart below compares the daily maximum and minimum temperatures in February 2016 with the 30-year averages for those dates.  Clearly, most of the month experienced above average temperatures, except for a short period around February 20-21.

Daily Maximum & Minimum Temperatures, February 2016

February 2016 was undoubtedly wet: total rainfall was 112 mm, nearly  double the average February precipitation of 61 mm, and there were 22 days with measurable rain compared with the average 13 days.  However, more than half of February’s rainfall fell on just one day, the 15^th.  As I discussed here, the rainfall that day was exceptional, the most at Victoria Gonzales in one day since 2006.  If you remove that day, rainfall during the rest of the month was actually a bit below average, although the number of days with rainfall was still higher than normal.  The chart below shows the daily and cumulative rainfall in February compare with the 30-year average.  You can see the impact of the February 15^th deluge. 

Daily & Cumulative Rainfall, February 2016

While Victoria was much drier than surrounding areas in January, the difference was not quite so great in February (again thanks to all that rain on the 15^th).   The table below compares February 2016 rainfall in several locations around the region.  Rainfall at Victoria Gonzales was very similar to Victoria Airport in February 2016 – whereas normally the Airport gets 46% more precipitation in February.  Victoria still got less rain than Nanaimo, Vancouver, or Seattle, but the difference wasn’t as great as usual. 

There was no snow during February 2016, and none since the 1 cm dusting we received in November 2014.  We haven't had significant snow on the ground since January 2012.  Normal snowfall for February is 3.6 cm, although Victoria has received measurable snowfall in February only a little over one third of the time over the last 30 years.