Spring 2024 was slightly cooler and drier than normal in Victoria

 Meteorological spring is from March 1 to May 31.  Overall, spring 2024 was slightly cooler and slightly drier than normal.

The mean temperature at Victoria Gonzales this past spring was 9.9 degrees, which is slightly cooler than the 30-year average of 10.1 C.  The average daily maximum for spring 2023 was 13.3 degrees , while the average daily minimum was 6.6.  March was 0.2 degrees C warmer normal, while April was 0.2 degrees C below normal and May was 0.5 degrees C below normal.  

The chart below shows the daily maximum and minimum temperatures at Victoria Gonzales during spring 2024, compared with the 30-year averages.  Temperatures were generally fairly close to normal for the first half of the spring.  There were two notable warm spells: one in mid-March and a second in early to mid-May.  Aside from the warm spell, temperatures in May were a bit below normal. The warmest temperature was 26.8 C on May 10.  The coldest temperature was 0.0 C on March 5.  Victoria Gonzales averages is 0.7 days with temperatures at or below 0 during the spring.

Spring 2024 was slightly drier than normal in Victoria, with 105.8 mm of rain compared with the normal 115.4 mm.  March was drier than normal, April was slightly drier than normal, but May was wetter than normal, helping to make up part of the seasonal shortfall.

There were 26 days with measurable rainfall during spring 2024, compared with the normal of 33 days.  There were 9 days in March (normal 14.5), 9 days in April (normal 10.3), and 8 days in May (normal 8.4).  The wettest day was May 21, when 16.8 mm of rain fell.

The chart below shows daily precipitation during spring 2024, and compares the cumulative precipitation with the 30-year average.  Precipitation tracked below average throughout most of the spring, but it almost caught up with normal during the wetter period in late May.  

Overall, spring 2024 was close to normal sunshine: March was a little sunnier than normal, while April was a little cloudier.  There were more mostly sunny days than normal, but also more mostly cloudy days.  There were 35 mostly sunny days (normal 29), 29 partly cloudy days (39 normal ), and 28 mostly cloudy days (normal 24).

Spring 2023 was dry and sunny, with overall normal temperatures

 Meteorological spring is from March 1 to May 31.  Overall, spring 2023 saw close to normal temperatures, but was much drier than normal.  

The mean temperature at Victoria Gonzales this past spring was 10.1 degrees, which is right on the 30-year average.  The average daily maximum for spring 2023 was 13.6 degrees , while the average daily minimum was 6.5, again both very close to the 30-year averages.  This masked some significant differences during the season.  March was 0.6 degrees C below normal, while April was a chilly 1.2 degrees C below normal.  That contrasted with May, which was the warmest May on record at Victoria Gonzales, a full 1.7 degrees C above normal.

The chart below shows the daily maximum and minimum temperatures at Victoria Gonzales during spring 2023, compared with the 30-year averages.  Temperatures during March were fairly close to normal, then during April they fell significantly below normal.  There was a spike in temperatures in late April, with temperatures getting into the low 20s, then an even bigger spike in mid-May, with temperatures reaching the low 30s.  Temperatures remained above normal for most of May.  The warmest temperature was 30.7 C on May 14.  In fact, this was the second highest temperature ever recorded at Victoria Gonzales in May.  The coldest temperature was 0.4 C on March 1.  There were no days below freezing during spring 2023.  Normal is 0.7 days.

Daily Max & Min temps vs 30-yr normal, Spring 2023

Following a drier than normal winter, Victoria experienced a dry spring in 2023.  There was 58.4 mm of rain, just over half of the normal 115.4 mm 

There were just 22 days with measurable rainfall during spring 2023, compared with the normal of 33 days.  There were 8 days in March (normal 14.5), 11 days in April (normal 10.3), and 3 days in May (normal 8.4).  The wettest day was May 5, when 12.4 mm of rain fell.

The chart below shows daily precipitation during spring 2023, and compares the cumulative precipitation with the 30-year average.  Precipitation tracked below average throughout the spring.  

Overall, spring 2023 was sunnier than normal.  March saw more sun than normal, while April saw less.  However, May was likely one of the sunniest Mays on record in Victoria, with an estimated 335 hours.  The official record is 356.4 hours from May 1963.  There were 40 mostly sunny days during spring 2023, including 22 mostly sunny days in May.

May was another warm month

After a record warm April in Victoria, our warm streak continued in May.  The mean temperature of 14.1 degrees was just shy of the record (14.2), set back in 2005.  The 30-year normal temperature for May at Victoria Gonzales is 12.3 degrees.  The average daily high/low temperatures this May were 18.3/9.9 compared with the normal of 16.2/8.4.  May was even warmer at the Victoria Airport, with a mean temperature of 14.4 degrees.  This made May 2016 the warmest on record at the Airport, following the warmest April on record.  It's pretty rare to get back-to-back monthly temperature records!  The average daily high/low temperatures at the Airport were 19.7/9.1 - more like June than May.

The chart below compares the daily high and low temperatures this May at Victoria Gonzales compared with the 30-year average.  You can see that temperatures were well above average during the first half of the month.  Temperatures were closer to average in the second half of the month, although there was a spike on May 31.

Daily High & Low Temperatures at Victoria Gonzales, May 2016

May was also dry, with just 10.4 mm of rain in Victoria, compared with the normal of 28.6 mm.  By comparison, there was 12.8 mm of rain at the Victoria Airport, 51.6 mm at the Vancouver Airport, and 76.6 mm at Vancouver Harbour.

The chart below shows daily and cumulative rainfall (red line) compared with the average cumulative rainfall (blue line) at Victoria Gonzales for May 2016.  Clearly, it was much drier than average.  Nearly three quarters of the month's rainfall fell on one day - May 28.

Daily and Cumulative Rainfall at Victoria Gonzales, May 2016

With the mild temperatures in March, followed by record or near record temperatures in April and May, Spring 2016 was the warmest on record at both Victoria Gonzales and at the Airport.  At Gonzales the mean temperature was 11.9 degrees compared with the average of 10.1.  Average high/low temperatures at Victoria Gonzales were 15.4/8.3 compared with the normal spring high/low of   13.5/6.5.

How long will this string of warmer than average temperatures last?  Perhaps not much longer since El Nino is now dead and there is a La Nina on the horizon.