Heaviest snowfall of 2019

Courtesy NB Highway Cameras, 13 Feb 2019

Lots of rain, freezing rain and ice pellets have been recorded so far this year in Southeast New Brunswick but snow has been somewhat scarce – until today.

A Colorado Low made its way across the continent this week bringing lots of snow to the American Midwest, Southern Ontario and Southern Quebec before arriving in the Maritimes.

Greater Moncton received 26 cm of snow followed by ice pellets and some freezing rain/drizzle along with strong winds which created poor visibility.

Snowfall amounts were fairly consistent across most of Nova Scotia with 22 cm at Greenwood and Halifax Stanfield Airport, 21 cm in Sydney but only 11 cm in Yarmouth.

Environment Canada says cold weather will replace the snow for late week with a brief warmup and rain expected this weekend.

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Frigid air follows ice storm

Aftermath of ice storm in NE Moncton, 08 Feb 2019 (Dearing)

Southern New Brunswick received several hours of freezing rain Friday morning – enough to make highways and other surfaces extremely icy.

Schools were cancelled, many businesses delayed opening until midday, pedestrians were forced to walk like penguins and even salt trucks slid off the road in Nova Scotia.

Ice coated my own steps to the point where I had to slide down them and crawl to my car which was a few metres away.

Greater Moncton only received about 10 mm of rain but the water eventually froze when a cold front followed the ice storm and temperatures plummeted by early Saturday.

Environment Canada is forecasting colder than normal weather but mostly clear skies over the next few days.

Unbelievable cold in the West!

Thermometer reading near Edmonton where Celsius meets Fahrenheit, 05 Feb 2019 (Twitter)

An Arctic air mass has plunged much of Western Canada into the deep freeze with the coldest weather in nearly a decade.

Frigid temperatures have broken records in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia with the wind chill making it feel more like -50 in some areas!

Emergency responders had many calls related to frostbite and hypothermia with seniors and young children being especially vulnerable to the cold.

Auto clubs had almost ten times as many requests from drivers for dead car batteries.

These locations were among new minimums set on 05-06 February 2019:

Key Lake, SK
New record of -47.7
Old record of -44.0 set in 2007
Records started in 1976

Meadow Lake, SK
New record of -43.5
Old record of -41.0 set in 1979
Records started in 1959

Saskatoon, SK
New record of -42.5
Old record of -41.7 set in 1907
Records started in 1900

Grande Prairie, AB
New record of -41.5
Old record of -39.4 set in 1933
Records started in 1922

Edmonton International Airport, AB
New record of -41.2
Old record of -37.2 set in 1975
Records started in 1959

Jasper, AB
New record of -39.4
Old record of -35.7 set in 2014
Records started in 1916

Blue River, BC
New record -35.6
Old record -33.0 set in 1989

Lytton, BC
New record -17.4
Old record -17.2 set in 1949

(Data courtesy Environment Canada)

Bitter cold in Toronto

A bitterly cold day in downtown Toronto, 20 Jan 2019 (Dearing)

Without a doubt, Canada’s largest city can often be cold during the winter.

But during a recent stopover in Toronto, an Arctic air mass pushed into Southern Ontario giving the provincial capital its coldest daytime high ever recorded.

A bitterly cold maximum of -14.2°C was set on 20 January at Pearson Airport.

Two overnight lows also dropped to -22°C this week which although frigid were still a few degrees away from the all-time records.

Until now, Central Canada had practically escaped the winter season apart from a brief blast in late November.

Risk of frostbite

Hoar frost on trees in west end Moncton, 14 Jan 2019 ( Dearing)

A good old fashioned January cold snap continues in New Brunswick with well below normal temperatures since last weekend.

Wind chill values have dropped to -30 giving the risk of frostbite on exposed skin.

After a frosty -21.4°C in Greater Moncton earlier this week, forecasters say a further tumble to -23°C is likely before a potent winter storm arrives on Sunday.

Environment Canada is tracking a system moving across the U.S. which is expected to bring at least 30 cm of snow, 50 mm of rain, a period of freezing rain and strong winds to the Maritimes.

2018 in Review

While the last three months of 2018 were colder than normal in Greater Moncton, the annual average temperature was still 0.4 degrees above the 30-year average.

Summer proved to be extremely warm with more highs above 20°C overall and more than three times as many days above 30°C.

As for cold weather, the number of days falling below -10°C was near normal but there were far fewer lows dropping to -20°C or lower.

(Data courtesy Environment Canada)

1-2-3 New Year Punch

Snow falling in west end Moncton, 09 Jan 2019 (Dearing)

For the third time since the start of 2019, Southeast New Brunswick was hit with snow.

Another low pressure system initially brought snow with 21 cm recorded in Greater Moncton following briefly by ice pellets and then 5 mm of rain as the temperature climbed above freezing.

Higher amounts of snow fell in central and northern New Brunswick while more rain fell over mainland Nova Scotia with localized flooding in the Halifax region.

Environment Canada expects calmer but colder conditions over the next few days.

UPDATE – Storm summary for New Brunswick:

Snowfall (cm)

• Miramichi  up to 55
• Caraquet  up to 44
• Bathurst  28
• Kouchibouguac  28
• Shediac  27
• Alma  26
• Greater Moncton  21
• Fredericton  15
• Saint John  5

Rainfall  (mm)

• Grand Manan  30
• Saint John  25
• Alma  19
• St. Stephen  13
• Fredericton  5
• Greater Moncton  5

More snow and more coming

Heavy snow falling in NE Moncton, 05 Jan 2019 (Dearing)

A low pressure system moved across the Maritimes heading to Newfoundland bringing snow to the west and rain to the east.

Greater Moncton received about 14 cm of snow by the time it stopped late this morning.

The temperature will plummet tonight with cold northwesterly winds.

Forecasters are watching the next weather system now making its way across the country with more snow expected on Wednesday.

Bitter cold across N.B.

It doesn’t get that much colder than this in New Brunswick – thankfully! – and this is certainly the coldest weather so far this winter.

The thermometer fell to a bone-chilling -21 C in Greater Moncton this morning with a wind chill of -28.

The cold spot in the province was Edmundston with a low of -31 C which makes a temperature of -4.4 C in Grand Manan balmy by comparison.

Miscou Island set a new record low of -22.9 C according to final figures from Environment Canada beating the old record of -22.2 C from 1968.

December 2018 – Cold & dry

Sun glistening on the ice of Shediac Bay, 30 Dec 2018 (Dearing)

December turned out to be another cold month in Greater Moncton continuing a trend which began in October.

An early Arctic air mass kept daytime highs below freezing for a lengthy ten day stretch.

The month did prove to be less stormier than November with below normal rainfall and snowfall.

While Southeast New Brunswick had a snow cover for a few weeks prior to Christmas, it had mostly disappeared by 25 December.

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

Average HIGH -1.6°C

Average LOW -10.2°C

AVERAGE -5.9°C (about 1.1 degrees BELOW normal)

Extreme HIGH 12.8°C (22 Dec)

Extreme LOW -16.5°C (09 Dec)

RAINFALL 46.8 mm (slightly BELOW normal)

SNOWFALL 34.7 cm (about 40 percent BELOW normal)

(Data courtesy Environment Canada)