Submitted by Bill Caulfeild-Browne
The mean temperature in March was -0.9C, which is 1.8C warmer than the historic norm – but it didn’t feel like it. I put this down to the fact that there were four days early in the month which were very warm, with a high of 10.9C on the 9th. That false spring raised the average temperature of what was otherwise a cold March. The low was -15.6C on the first.
That subjective impression was compounded by the length of this winter which started with heavy snow and ice back on November 30th. As of this writing, on April 4th, it’s still very wintry. So astronomical spring may be here but Mother Nature hasn’t got the memo. Ice cover on the lake has only broken up today and there’s plenty still floating around. Indeed, the Great Lakes as a whole have had more ice cover than any time in the last six years.
Precipitation was well above normal. We got 63mm. against a 30 year average of 48mm. The vast majority of this was in the form of snow, which fell on 11 days of the month. This is a trend likely to continue with our warming climate.
For the Province as a whole there was a wide anomaly from the north which set cold weather records and the south that set warm weather records. For example, Moosonee hit -17.6C while Amherstberg was at +23.5C.
There were three major storms: freezing drizzle and intense fog caused many accidents, highway closures and flight cancellations on March 6/7th, but left the Peninsula mostly unscathed. On March 11/12, freezing rain was a major hazard pretty much everywhere, with thousands of Hydro One customers without power. In the north, Highway 11 was closed for nearly 12 hours. The worst storm, fortunately, initially passed to the north of us. A massive snowstorm paralyzed the north-east on March 15/17. Motorists were stranded, roads and airports closed and power cut from Sault Ste. Marie and a wide band to the east. The same storm moved south and dealt a blow to the Kitchener-Waterloo area – and us. We got 21mm of moisture which roughly translated to 21 cms. of snow. Wind speeds of 55 km/hr caused extensive drifting.
April is forecast to be warmer than normal – as are most months these days – but with continued variability.
