Most Significant Winter Events in SW B.C. History

[Typeing3]

Perhaps the coldest month of all time since the first weather station opened in Esquimalt in January of 1872 was January 1875. Maybe even colder than January 1950!

Don't know if you saw my post last Friday, but I pointed this out as well. Absolute mins in January 1875 (-20.6C) were lower than Jan 1950 at the New Westminster station.

[Typeing3]

EDIT: My order for coldest months of all time on the south coast are:
1) Jan 1950
2) Jan 1875
3) Jan 1969
4) Jan 1916
5) Jan 1907
6) Jan 1937
7) Jan 1930
8) Feb 1873
9) Feb 1936
10) Jan 1943
11) Jan 1909
12 Jan 1957

I'd say January 1949 should be on that list...average temp of -1.4C at YVR.

Going way back...I know months such as January 1862, February 1884 and December 1884 were very cold as well but unfortunately there's no data available for locations on the south coast. Just going off data for locations south of the border.

[Glacier]

Interesting how January of 1979 was one of the top 10 coldest on record in Kamloops.

Also, notice how no December months are memorable in terms of the monthly average cold, and yet December is on average the coldest month of the year.

I added my best estimate for Jan 1875 into the mix.

COLDESTMONTHSKAMLOOPS.png

[Typeing3]

Interesting how January of 1979 was one of the top 10 coldest on record in Kamloops.

Also, notice how no December months are memorable in terms of the monthly average cold, and yet December is on average the coldest month of the year.

I added my best estimate for Jan 1875 into the mix.

COLDESTMONTHSKAMLOOPS.png

The winter of '78-79 was quite cold. In some ways it was remarkably similar to '16-17. Persistently chilly, allowing for cold monthly averages, but no extreme cold.

Averages for January have warmed much more significantly over the years compared with December. Up until the 1981-2010 averages, January was the coldest month on average for most (if not all) locations in the province. I recall seeing a graph comparing average temps and snowfall over the years in December, January and Feb and the stark rise in temps and decline in snowfall in January was quite significant.

Edit: found one comparing Jan and Feb averages at both YVR and YXX over the past 50 years

[Typeing3]

I really wish we had data back to the legendary winter of 1861-62. Someone on the american weather forums said there was a station at New Westminster at the time which recorded temp and precip data but I can't find it. But from what we do know, Jan 1862 was a beast; apparently temps dipped to -27C in New West. The fraser river had already mostly frozen back in December and froze completely solid by early Jan as we remained in the deep freeze thru March.

I posted these pics in one of the other threads not too long ago. Better to keep them in here so they don't get lost.

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[Typeing3]

There is a paper which partly summarizes the winter of 1861-62. Saw it cited on the american forum:
"Table of Meteorological Observations taken by order of Col. li. 0. Moody, 11.E., at the station nf the Royal Engineers at New Westminster, B.C, in the year 1862."

It appears temps actually dropped to -19C rather than -27C (was measured at ground level rather than further up) on January 15th. However, this observation was taken at 9:30am. As we know mins are normally achieved about 1-2hrs prior to this. So to speculate, the temp could have easily hit -23C just a couple hours prior at around 7:30am. The high for the day (taken at 3:30pm) was an astonishing -14.4C.

More on the frozen fraser...ice didn't melt until March 11th!

"Ice appeared on the 1st January, 1862, and the river at New Westminster was unnavigable on the 4th; it was completely frozen over on the 9th, and the ice attained a thickness of 13 inches in the channel opposite the R. E. Camp, on the 12th of February. Sleighs were running from Langley to several miles below New Westminster, and persons walked from Hope to the latter place, a distance of 80 miles, on the ice, at the end of January. Lake Harrison and the other Lakes were frozen. Navigation from New Westminster was open to the mouth of the river on the 11th of March, and from Yale on the 12th April.

The same paper has more stats for the settlement at Lillooet. January 1862 averaged -13.7C, with an extreme low of -30C and 71.1cm of snow.

[Typeing3]

Most anomalous months at BC's longest running weather station...

deviations.png

Just to follow up on this graph...November 1896 averaged -1.4C at the Agassiz station. Given Nov 1985 averaged -1.3C, wouldn't 1896 that be even more anomalous?

[Glacier]

Just to follow up on this graph...November 1896 averaged -1.4C at the Agassiz station. Given Nov 1985 averaged -1.3C, wouldn't 1896 that be even more anomalous?

Now you've hit on something I do not know how to reconcile. My graph comes from the Environment Canada's homogenized surface air temperature data

For this station they adjusted all data prior to 1924, and no November month more than 1896. It seems that they think the station in 1896 was reading far too low so they added 2.2C to it to make the mean 0.8C, not -1.4C. That's one hell of an adjustment.

agassizeadjusted.png