June 2018 – Cold nights, plenty of rain

Ogilvie Brook, Irishtown Nature Park, 24 June 2018 (Dearing)

Greater Moncton has endured the coolest June in recent memory and while daytime highs were close to normal – with a few exceptions – overnight lows were cold, even frosty at times during the first half of the month.

A hard frost on 04 June with a record breaking low of -3.2 C was devastating for agriculture across New Brunswick especially in the Southeast.

Farmers suffered major damage – in some cases 50 to 80 percent losses – to crops such as grapes, strawberries and blueberries.

Oddly enough, the temperature had not been that low in all of May and not since 16 April had it been at least that cold.

Rainfall was about 60 percent above normal and was confined to a handful of major rain events with nine days being completely dry.

JUNE 2018 ALMANAC (at Greater Moncton Int’l Airport, 1981-2010)

Average HIGH  20.3°C

Average LOW  6.6°C

AVERAGE  13.5°C (about 1.7 degrees BELOW normal)

Extreme HIGH  29.7°C (01 June)

Extreme LOW  -3.2°C (04 June)

RAINFALL  154.0 mm (about 60 percent ABOVE normal)

(Data courtesy Environment Canada)

Advertisements

Here comes the heat!

A severe thunderstorm rolls through Greater Moncton ahead of warmer weather, 29 June 2018 (Dearing)

At long last, warm weather is finally pushing into New Brunswick after the coldest June in recent memory.

Environment Canada says a warm, humid air mass will settle over the Maritimes this weekend and persist into next week.

Temperatures in the low 30s Celsius are expected with high humidity making it feel much warmer.

Relief will come along coastal areas which can expect slightly cooler conditions.

Juneuary!

Snow falls in Gander, NL (GNL Highway Cameras)

When it snows in June it might as well be January which gives us a new month called Juneuary!

It may now be summer but an icy rain changed to snow in central Newfoundland and the Cape Breton Highlands today.

Gander set a new record with 2 cm of snow and Environment Canada said it has never snowed on 26 June before.

Thanks to a chilly rain, Greater Moncton reached a daytime high of only 11.0 C yesterday which was colder than the average overnight low of 12 C.

Average temperatures in Southeast New Brunswick have been running about three degrees below normal this month.

Goodbye Spring!

Dorchester Beach, NB, 17 June 2018 (Dearing)

Spring had its inevitable ups and downs in Southeast New Brunswick but overall the average temperature was close to normal for March, April and May.

March was very stormy with a parade of Nor’easters which led to the highest snow depth of the winter in Greater Moncton by the end of the month.

April was slightly colder than normal with chilly nights until mid-month and the last measurable snow fell on the 21st.

May had slightly above normal temperatures overall thanks to 14 days with daytime highs of 20 C or more but nights remained cold with single digit lows.

So far this June, the mean temperature is running three degrees below average with a hard frost on the 4th which was the coldest minimum since 16 April.

METEOROLOGICAL SPRING at the Greater Moncton International Airport

MARCH 2018
Average -1.7 C (1.2 degrees ABOVE normal)
Snowfall: well above normal, Rainfall: well below normal

APRIL 2018
Average 3.2 C (0.3 degrees BELOW normal)
Snowfall: below normal, Rainfall: above normal

MAY 2018
Average 10.3 C (0.3 degrees ABOVE normal)
Rainfall: below normal, Snowfall: nil

Risk of frost!

Frost covers a maple leaf (Twitter)

New Brunswick and most of Nova Scotia are under a frost advisory for tonight and tomorrow night.

Cold air, light winds and few clouds will allow temperatures to fall near the freezing point and patchy frost is expected.

The average last frost date in spring for Greater Moncton is 23 May.

Farmers are already suffering from tremendous losses in the region with crops such as grapes, strawberries, blueberries and apples being hit by a recent hard frost with a low of -4 C in some areas.

June has gotten off to cold start with snow flurries reported in Charlottetown this week and accumulating snow in the highlands of Cape Breton and St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Record lows in Maritimes

We are now several weeks into the growing season and temperatures are dropping to dangerously cold lows.

Farmers are concerned about damage to crops after a cool air mass and clear skies led to a frigid low of -4 C in parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia overnight.

Greater Moncton dropped to -3.2 C early today which broke the old record of -2.2 C from 1903 and records go back to 1881.

The following new record lows were set on 04 June:

• Kouchibouguac National Park, NB -3.8 C (records since 1924)
• Grand Manan, NB -2.2 C (records since 1883)
• Port Hawkesbury, NS -2.6 C (records since 1875)
• Ingonish, NS -2.2 C (records since 1950)
• Summerside, PEI -1.9 C (records since 1898)
• Charlottetown, PEI -1.0 C (records since 1872)

Drastic cooldown

Temperature dropped below 10 C by early afternoon, 02 June 2018 (Dearing)

Unbelievable!  Conditions went from hot to cold in just a matter of hours after a cold front swept through New Brunswick today.

In Greater Moncton, the high of 18°C was set early this morning before the front changed the wind direction from south to north and the temperature dropped six degrees in an hour to 11°C by 9am.

This is in stark contrast to yesterday when the thermometer climbed to 29.7°C which was the warmest high so far this year.

New maximum records were set for 01 June in Bouctouche at 32.6°C, Miramichi at 32.7°C and 33.2°C at Kouchibouguac National Park.

Last frost of spring?

Frost covers a maple leaf (Twitter)

When the temperature dropped to -0.3 C early this morning, frost could be found in Greater Moncton.

The coldest low in New Brunswick was -5.9 C at Edmundston!

Thanks to cool, dry air with no cloud cover, Environment Canada has issued another frost advisory for tonight.

But keep in mind it’s not that unusual based on the 30-year average (1981-2010).

The average last spring frost date is 23 May in Greater Moncton and the first fall frost is 2 October for a growing season of 131 days.

They’re back!

Dandelions growing in NE Moncton, 02 May 2018 (Dearing)

Dandelions have made their return to Southeast New Brunswick a little later than usual thanks to a cold spring.

The yellow plants or weeds were spotted today when the temperature climbed to 24.5 C in Greater Moncton – the warmest high so far this year.

The hotspot in New Brunswick was St. Stephen at 29 C and Fredericton was not far behind at 28 C.

But a cold front is pushing through the province which will bring rain and dramatically lower temperatures overnight with single digit highs expected tomorrow.

Record lows in NB

Despite chilly weather, snowbanks are melting in NE Moncton, 16 April 2018 (Dearing)

Mid-April is here already but temperatures certainly haven’t been improving very much lately in New Brunswick.

Overnight lows continue to be abnormally cold with records set on Sunday, 15 April.

Greater Moncton fell to -9.1 C which breaks a record low of -8.6 C from 1981.

New records were also set in Bouctouche at -8.6 C and Miscou Island at -9.3 C.