A look at winter 2017/18 in Victoria

Meteorological winter (December to February) finished a few weeks ago.  So what was the winter of 2017/18 like in Victoria?  Unlike the very warm winters of 2014/15 and 2015/16, followed by the extremely cold winter of 2016/17, this past winter was closer to normal, though still a bit cooler and wetter than the 30-year average.

The mean temperature over the three month period was 5.4 degrees - cooler than the 30-year average of 5.8 degrees, but nothing too unusual.  This follows the extreme cases of 2014/15 (mean winter temperature of 7.6 degrees), 2015/16 (6.8 degrees), and 2016/17 (just 3.9 degrees).  The average daily max/min temperature this past winter was 7.4/3.3 (compared with the normal 7.9/3.6).  The warmest temperature was 12.8 on February 4th and the coldest was -2.2, also recorded in February, on the 21st.  There were 10 days when the temperature dropped below 0 (4 days in December, none in January, and 6 in February).  The 30-year average for Victoria Gonzales is 7.6 days with overnight temperatures dropping below freezing during the winter.

The chart below shows the daily maximum and minimum temperatures this winter, compared with the 30-year averages.  The first half of December was fairly mild, then it turned cold in late December.  January was generally quite mild, with temperatures just above normal.  February started out mild, then turned much colder towards the end of the month.

Daily Maximum & Minimum Temperatures, Winter 2017/18

This winter was also a little wetter than normal.  Total precipitation from December to February was 308 mm, compared with the 30-year average of 264 mm.  All three winter months were slightly  wetter than the winter normal.  The chart below shows the daily and cumulative precipitation this winter compared with the average.  Early December was dry, but rainfall totals caught up to normal when 37 mm of rain fell on December 19, the wettest day of the winter.  After that, cumulative precipitation stayed slightly above normal.

Daily & Cumulative Precipitation, Winter 2017/18

The 308 mm of precipitation recorded at Victoria Gonzales this winter compared with 399 mm at the Victoria Airport and 655 mm at Vancouver Harbour.

There was 11 cm snow this winter, a little more than half the 30-year average of 20 cm.  We had one snowfall in December (perfectly timed to fall overnight on Dec. 24-25, then all melted by Dec. 26), and one snowfall in February.

2017: A year in review

After two very warm years in 2015 and 2016, average temperatures in 2017 were close to the long term average: 10.5 degrees versus the 30-year average of 10.6 degrees.  The year started out cold, with January and February almost 2 degrees colder than average, and March  nearly 1 degree colder than average.  From April to July, temperatures were close to the average, then August through October was about 1 degree warmer than average.  The year ended with below average temperatures in December.

The warmest temperature of the year was 30.4 degrees on June 24, while the coldest temperature was -3.2 degrees on January 3.  There were 3 days in 2017 with a maximum temperature above 30 degrees, compared with the average of just 1 day.  Conversely, there were 18 days in 2017 with a minimum temperature below freezing, well above the average of 9.5 days.

The chart below compares the daily maximum and minimum temperatures for 2017 at Victoria Gonzales with the long term average temperatures.  You can see that the beginning and the end of the year were colder than average, while the middle part of the year experienced average to above average temperatures.

2017 daily maximum and minimum temperatures

As was the case in 2016, precipitation was close to normal in 2017.  Victoria had 613 mm of precipitation in 2017, just slightly below the average of 641 mm.  The number of days with measurable rainfall was below average: 128 days in 2017 versus the average of 140 days.  There was actually a tie for the wettest day in 2017: both October 18 and December 19 received 37.0 mm of rain.

The chart below compares the daily and cumulative precipitation in 2017 with the average cumulative precipitation.  You can see that we stayed fairly close to the average throughout the year, following our typical pattern of wet winters and dry summers.  July and August are typically very dry in Victoria, and in 2017 they were especially dry, with just 0.8 mm in July and 1.4 mm in August.  The combined 2.2 mm of rain in July and August was the lowest ever recorded at Victoria Gonzales.  January was also a dry month in Victoria in 2017, with just 25.7 mm of rain, making it the 5th driest January on record at Victoria Gonzales.

2017 daily and cumulative precipitation

Victoria typically receives less rainfall than surrounding areas, and 2017 was no exception.  The chart below compares total annual precipitation for a number of cities in our region.  Compared with 613 mm  of precipitation at Victoria Gonzales, the Victoria Airport received 910 mm - 48% more than Victoria proper.  Nanaimo (1048 mm) received 70% more rain thanVictoria in 2017 while Vancouver (1568 mm) received more than 2.5 times as much rain.  Seattle (1216 mm) received twice as much rainfall asVictoria.