Weather Appreciation

[Glacier]

I've been playing with a little api program, and decided to adapt it to some weather data - just for fun.

This first map shows the extreme minimum temperatures recorded around BC last month.
(Yellow means <=-35°C, Green <=-30°C, GreenRed <=-25°C, Red <=-20°C, RedBlue <= -15°C, Blue>15°C)

This second graph shows how the average temperature compares to normal.
(Red = above normal; Blue/Red = Normal; Blue = Below Normal)

Note: fewer weather stations are available for the second map because most stations don't stay around long enough to calculate an average.

[strwbrrydvl]

Overall warmer..

I find it very neat that at such a seemingly close proximity the two recordings around Tweedsmuir Provincial Park (south) differ so much. Above normal and the only below normal being that close.. Is there a large elevation difference between the two?

[Glacier]

Both of those locations are in the Bella Coola valley at less than 200 m above sea level. The one on the left is the Bella Coola Airport and the one on the right is Stui (in Tweedsmuir Park).

On average, Stui is much colder (and drier) in the Winter because Bella Coola has more influence from the nearby Ocean. I suspect that the this mild sea breeze penetrated further inland more often than normal last month.


ETA: Here is the average temperature around BC for 2010.

Yellow = 10 - 11.5
Green = 8 - 10
Green/Red = 6 - 8
Red = 4 - 6
Red/Blue = 2 - 4
Blue = 0 - 2

[Glacier]

Last month was below normal across the entire province with the exception of Fort Nelson where it was right around the average. The Cariboo region around Williams Lake was the most below average (almost 5 degrees colder than normal).

Combined with the first two months of winter, we had a slightly warmer and wetter winter than normal winter in the Okanagan as the following map shows.

(red depicts below normal temperature for the winter, green near normal, and yellow above normal)

[Lady tehMa]

What about spring? Can we expect weather soon that gardeners will be happy with? Will I be able to get started on expanding my garden soon?

Averages and graphs are nice to look at, but sometimes I need help putting it in concrete terms

[Cumungala]

Very interesting thread!! I am very interested in the weather and climate patterns for different areas. Right now East Kelowna is the last part of Kelowna to still have snow, but it will certainly be gone in a matter of days.

Average daytime high temperatures for January:
Osoyoos: 1
Oliver: 1
Penticton: 0.9
Naramata: 0.2
Peachland: 1.4
Kelowna Burnetts: 0.9
East Kelowna: 0.2
Kelowna Airport: -0.2
Oyama: -0.1
Vernon College: -1.6
Vernon Bella Vista: 0.6
Lumby: -1.8
Armstrong: -1.7
Salmon Arm: -1

The Kelowna Burnetts Station (downtown) is based on incomplete data because half the years are missing. The fact that Kelowna Downtown and Penticton both shared the same temperature (0.9) seemed wrong. I would say that Downtown Kelowna probably gets 0.6 on average not 0.9. After all Kelowna is a quite a bit farther north than Penticton, so it should be a tad bit colder. The coldest spot (Lumby -1.8) and the warmest spot(Peachland 1.4) share a difference of 3.2 degrees.

[Glacier]

What about spring? Can we expect weather soon that gardeners will be happy with? Will I be able to get started on expanding my garden soon?

Averages and graphs are nice to look at, but sometimes I need help putting it in concrete terms

I was just having fun with my little program. ha ha.

Environment Canada is calling for a cooler and wetter spring, but I am not confident enough about the future to make such a prediction. This is my first year using a specific technique to predict the weather, but it is seasonly dependent, so it takes a year or more of monitoring before one can make accurate predictions about what the Spring will bring. The temperature this time of year in Kelowna Okanagan is typically +9 and -1, so we've been around the average this week, and it'll likely be above average for next 10 days.

I'm tempted to make predictions about May, but I won't because I'd probably get it wrong based on my limited understanding of seasonally adjusted weather interactions.

[Queen K]

I remember a May early in the 90's that was so cold that we could not be outside, much less gardening.

And I do not appreciate today's wind and cooler weather!

[Matthew Reed]

-Oh man, Glacier you rock. I did my work placement at the weather office when I was in high school, I got to do the weather balloon everyday and interact with the weather "super computer" that does all the modeling.....sooooo fun. I thought I was going to work on a glacier doing water type stuff, but what ever. Love your input.
Ah, and this guy is amazing... http://www.weatheraction.com/

_________________

"Will I be able to get started on expanding my garden soon?"

I always plant before May long weekend. 1) Potted plants can go out during the day and in at night, keep wind exposure low and 4/5 degrees won't damage most crops while making them stronger and sweeter. 2) Cold frames, I did are them for the winter, my garlic is a foot tall, but they are still great for early spring start ups. 3) Have you tried sprouting seeds? They have really high nutritional content and can be grown in a very small space.

[Lady tehMa]

Thanks Matthew - I have some little jiffy trays and am trying to start some plants now (decorative mainly, but trying to start some summer savory too). I've tried sprouts before, but you actually have to pay attention to them or they go bad quick >.<

Glace,

where are we at for the averages? It feels cold, and it feels like spring is taking forever to arrive.

[Queen K]

You and me both, but I'm still going out there in a minute to plant some Elephant Garlic we bought yesterday. Wednesday is Farmer Market day and we will go get more garlic to plant, so I'm really really hoping someone does the sun dance and it works.

That's how it's done in Canada, right?

[Glacier]

where are we at for the averages? It feels cold, and it feels like spring is taking forever to arrive.

March was at or just above normal in the Okanagan.

Winfield = 0.4 degrees above normal
Kelowna = 0.2 degrees above normal
Penticton = 0.1 degrees above normal
Peachland = right on normal

Northern BC was not so lucky. Fort St. John was the most below normal of any place in Canada at 7.1 degrees below normal.

Overall, BC was about 1.0 °C below normal and Canada was 1.7 °C below normal.

In other news, White Rock had the warmest average temperature in the country at 8 °C, a couple of places in Nunavut dropped below -47°C, and Osoyoos recorded the warmest temperature at 20.3 °C.

[Lady tehMa]

huh - at or above? I wonder why it feels differently then? I don't recall feeling this way last year . . . just want the warm weather to come. At least it isn't snowing again

Do that sun dance QK, I'll join in!!!

[Glacier]

huh - at or above? I wonder why it feels differently then? I don't recall feeling this way last year . . .

Last year was over 1.5 degrees above normal. In addition, the current Spring feels cold because it has been so wet and cloudy. March is typically the driest month of the year in much of BC (second driest month in the South Okanagan), but last month never gave us more than three consecutive dry days.

[zzontar]

It seems like a forecast of partly cloudy with a chance of showers and highs of 9-11 degrees has been going on forever and continues on... the weather's stuck!