Victoria Weather & Climate: February

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

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.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

February blahs? Not in Victoria!

You often hear the term February blahs, especially from people in other parts of Canada who are tired of the cold, snow and slush, and they know that they probably have a couple more months of winter to endure. I think this is the time of year when I am most appreciative of living in Victoria. This may not be the nicest time of year in Victoria, but compared with most of the rest of Canada, it is heaven. (It was -26 degrees in Toronto this morning, although granted that is very cold even for them!)

versus

As I mentioned in this post, while February is still the depth of winter in many parts of Canada, the coldest and dreariest point of the winter in Victoria tends to happen quite early, around the end of December. By February, the weather is noticeably warmer, drier, and sunnier. The average high temperature in February in Victoria is 9 degrees, a degree warmer than January and nearly two degrees warmer than December.

February is also noticeably drier, with an average of just 61 mm of precipitation compared with more than 100 mm each month in November, December, and January - the end of the rainy season is definitely in sight! On average, there is a 43% chance of measurable precipitation on any given day in February (compared with than 50% in November, December, and January). As I've said before, I think looking at the % chance of rain on any given day somewhat overstates how rainy it is, since a day with measurable precipitation doesn't necessarily mean rain all day - it could be a brief shower. Another way to look at at this is the % of hours with measurable precipitation, and for Victoria in February there is precipitation just 19% of the time.

The sun is also making more of an appearance, with 98 hours of sunshine in a typical February in Victoria. That works out to an average of 3.5 hours per day, compared with only 2.3 hours per day in January and 2.0 hours per day in December. On average, February gets 22 days with at least some measurable sunshine, and overall, it is sunny about 35% of the time (at least during daylight hours!). In other words, during daylight hours it's actually more likely for the sun to be shining February (35% of the time) than it is to be raining (19% of the time).

Snow is also pretty rare in February in Victoria. Over the past 30 years, only 11 Februarys have seen any snow at all and just 5 of the past 30 Februarys saw significant snowfall (more than 10 cm). When it does snow, it melts quickly; Victoria averages just 0.7 days with snow on the ground during February.

The other nice thing about February is that it's springtime! Crocuses, daffodils, and rhodos are blooming, and the cherry blossoms are out. Sometimes when we have mild weather in February, they will also get warm weather in Southern Alberta, with temperatures in the teens. While that must be a nice break from the cold and the snow, it's so much nicer to enjoy the mild weather here when there is greenery and flowers everywhere! Here's a few photos I took last week (February 8) around Victoria: