A fairly warm and dry spring for 2019 in Victoria

Meteorological spring runs from March 1 to May 31.  Overall, this spring was a bit warmer and drier than normal.  All three months were warmer than average, but the drier conditions were entirely the result of a dry March. 

The mean temperature this past spring at Victoria Gonzales was 10.6 degrees, warmer than the 30-year average of 10.0 degrees but well below the record warm spring of 2016 when it was 11.9 degrees.  Five of the past six springs have been warmer than average in Victoria.  March was very slightly (0.1 degrees) above normal, April was 0.5 degrees above normal, and May was 1.1 degrees above normal.   

The chart below shows the daily maximum and minimum temperatures at Victoria Gonzales during spring 2019, compared with the 30-year averages.  Spring started out very cold and well below normal at the beginning of March, then quickly became much warmer than normal for the rest of March and the beginning of April.  A cool spell in mid to late April was followed by another period of much higher than normal temperatures at the beginning of May.  The warmest temperature this spring was 24.9 degrees on May 9, while the coldest temperature was -0.6 on March 4.

Daily Max & Min temperatures in Victoria, Spring 2019

Victoria received 89 mm of rain this spring.  That's about 20% less than the 30-year average fall precipitation of 112 mm.  This was entirely due to a dry March.  Precipitation was less than half of the average in March (20 mm versus the normal 50 mm), but the rest of the spring was slightly wetter than average, with 38 mm versus the normal 34 mm in April and 32 mm versus the normal 29 mm in May.  

There were were just 22 days with measurable precipitation this spring, with 7 days in March, 10 days in April, and 5 days in May.  That's well below the normal of 33.6 days with measurable precipitation that Victoria typically sees during the spring.  

The chart below shows daily precipitation during spring 2019, and compares the cumulative precipitation with the 30-year average.   Cumulative precipitation was below average throughout the spring.  A dry period from mid-March to early April, was followed by a brief wet period in mid-April.  This was followed by another dry period from late April to mid-May.  While May was wetter than normal, 90% of the rain fell on just two days.  May 20 was the second wettest day of the spring, with 10.6 mm, while May 25 was the wettest day of the spring, with 17.4 mm of rain (and the wettest May day in Victoria since 2011).

Cumulative & Daily Rainfall in Victoria, Spring 2019

The chart below compares the precipitation amounts in Victoria this spring with other locations in the region.  As is typically the case, Victoria Gonzales was the driest location, with a total of 89 mm during March to May.  Victoria Airport  wasn’t far behind, with 94 mm.  It was significantly wetter in Vancouver, with 172 mm at the Vancouver Airport and 210 mm at Vancouver Harbour - nearly 2.5 times what Victoria received.  Seattle received 140 mm of rain during the spring, nearly 60% more than Victoria Gonzales.  

Total Spring 2019 Rainfall in the Region