Antares wrote: ↑Tue Jan 05, 2021 4:46 pm
I'd love both to happen but I'd go for extreme cold with a nominal amount (10-20 cm) of snow, if I had to choose between extreme cold or extreme snowfall.
My minimum criteria for extreme cold in early February would be: -8C / -13C (high/low)
It's unfortunate data does not exist for February 1893 for Vancouver, because there would definitely have been a couple days with highs below -10c.
As it stands though, a high below -7.2c in February has never been observed at either YVR or Vancouver City Hall, with records back to 1898. In fact, all time, there have only been 16 days with highs below -8c at either YVR or City Hall.
If you look in the stats thread, I posted a list of the coldest highs in Vancouver...there have been 30 days in recorded history with highs under -7c so I'd say that should be the cutoff for an extreme tmax for the city.
I'll post a similar list showing the coldest lows soon, but I think anything below -13c is fine in qualifying as an extreme low.