Fall 2022: an abrupt shift from warm and dry to cool and wet

 Meteorological fall is from September 1 to November 30.  Fall in Victoria nearly always transitions from warm and dry in September to cool and wet in November, but in 2022 the transition was very abrupt.  

Overall, the mean fall temperature at Victoria Gonzales was 11.8 degrees, which is 0.6 degrees warmer than the 30-year average.  September was the second warmest on record at Victoria Gonzales, while October was the warmest on record (2.2 degrees above normal).  However, November was tied for the 5th coldest on record (2.1 degrees below normal).  

The chart below shows the daily maximum and minimum temperatures at Victoria Gonzales during fall 2022, compared with the 30-year averages.  From September 1 to about October 20, temperatures were consistently above normal.  There was then an abrupt shift, with temperatures much cooler than normal for the remaining 6 weeks of fall.  This included two brief cold snap, in early November and again in late November, when overnight temperatures dipped below freezing.

Daily Max & Min Temperature at Victoria Gonzales

Victoria typically experiences 9.7 days each fall when the maximum temperature exceeds 20 C.  In 2022, there were 25 such days.  Victoria usually only averages 1.5 days each fall when the maximum temperature exceeds 25 C.  In 2022, this occurred on 4 days this fall: Sept. 6th, 9th and 10th, and again on October 2nd. The maximum temperature this fall was 25.8 C on September 10th.

On the other hand, Victoria typically only experiences 0.9 days each fall when the overnight low temperature falls below freezing.  In 2022, there were 4 such days, the coldest being -2.2 C on November 29th.  

Victoria received 167 mm of rain from September to November, 26% less than the 30-year average fall rainfall of 227 mm.   

Victoria had 23 days with measurable rainfall this fall, well below the normal 37.8 days.  There was no measurable precipitation from September 1 to October 20.  Then 9 of the last 11 days in October had rainfall, followed by 14 days in November.   Normally, Victoria averages 7.8 days with measurable rain in September, 12.8 days in October, and 17.4 days in November.  

The chart below shows daily precipitation during fall 2022, and compares the cumulative precipitation with the 30-year average.   The fall started off extremely dry, with no measurable rain until October 21.  A rainy spell in late October/early November meant that fall rainfall was almost normal by November 7.  This was followed by another dry spell (a two-week period with only a few days of very light rain, less than 1 mm), before rain returned at the end of the month.  The wettest day of the fall was October 30th, with 40.6 mm of rain.  

Daily & Cumulative Precipitation at Victoria Gonzales

There were also two short periods of light snow in Victoria during November.  On November 7th, there was 2 cm of snow and on November 29th, there was another 1 cm of snow that quickly turned to rain and melted by noon that day.