THUNDER BAY -- What a difference a year makes.
According to the weather, this December and the December of 2013 have almost nothing in common. Last year’s December was so cold that polar vortex became the daily water cooler topic. But last year’s coldest-on-record-December is nothing like what this city has faced so far this year.
Peter Kimball, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada said that trend will continue Monday with a forecasted high temperature of 4C later in the afternoon.
“(Monday) is a continuation of the relatively warm weather we’ve seen so far this month,” Kimball said. “The mean temperature so far this month is - 7.9C. Normally it would be about – 11.6C for the whole month of December.”
So far this year the average daily high temperature has been – 2C while the average daily low is only – 13 C. That’s a far cry from just one year prior, where temperatures regularly dipped below – 25C.
The coldest stretch so far this year was during the first four days of the month, where the low temperature ranged from – 19C to – 25C.
Just the opposite happened last year, where the first five days were among the warmest of the month before a bitter cold snap hit for the following two weeks, where there were 13 consecutive days with low temperatures below – 20C.
According to Environment Canada, the coldest temperature recorded so far this year has been – 25C, which happened on Dec. 4.
Only five days this month has the mercury fallen lower than – 15C. There have also been six days in December 2014 where temperatures were higher than the freezing point.
There was not a single day in December 2013 where the temperature exceeded 0C.
There is also a marked contrast between the two months in the amount of snow that has fallen.
“We’ve had five centimetres of snow in the month of December,” Kimball said. “Normally in the month of December we would have 44 centimetres.”
Last year the city was bombarded with more than 73 centimetres of snow.
The mix of snow and cold last year did not create a fun winter.
“We haven’t actually been able to enjoy winter because we’re either shovelling out or bracing for the cold,” said one city resident last year.
Environment Canada is forecasting a return to more seasonal weather starting Monday evening, when colder temperatures are expected to set in along with two to four centimetres of snow.
The national weather service is predicting temperatures to be below freezing for the rest of the week with nighttime lows in the – 15 C range.
