First snow flurries of fall!

Snow squall in west end Moncton, 18 Oct 2018 (Dearing)

Low clouds and cold gusty winds across the warm Gulf of St. Lawrence and Bay of Fundy produced the first snow flurries of the season throughout the Maritimes today.

Greater Moncton actually had occasional snow squalls throughout the afternoon but there was no accumulation.

Some areas of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia did record slight amounts on the ground.

Environment Canada issued a special weather statement with up to 10 cm of snow possible for the Cape Breton Highlands.

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Heavy snow hits Calgary

Heavy snow covers cars in Calgary, AB, 02 Oct 2018 (Twitter)

Late summer and early autumn have been cold in southern Alberta but a big snowfall suddenly made it seem like winter.

Heavy snow moved across the Rockies and the foothills today dumping between 20 and 40 cm of snow (including over 30 cm at Calgary International Airport).

Environment Canada warns the snow will continue into Wednesday morning with a few more centimetres expected.

Traffic also ground to a halt as vehicles became stranded on snowy and icy highways.

September 2018 – Warm and wet

Black-eyed Susans growing in Upper Hammonds Plains, NS, 21 Sept 2018 (Dearing)

Warm, summer weather picked up in September where it left off in August in Southeast New Brunswick.

But the passage of a cold front marked a drastic temperature drop on the 18th and suddenly it felt like fall in Greater Moncton.

The thermometer continued to plunge and sank to -1.9°C on the 25th with light, scattered frost although most vegetation was spared severe damage.

Precipitation was actually above normal although heavy amounts fell in a handful of rainfalls.

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

Average HIGH 20.9°C

Average LOW 7.9°C

AVERAGE 14.4°C (about 0.8 degrees ABOVE normal)

Extreme HIGH 28.9°C (06 Sept)

Extreme LOW -1.9°C (25 Sept)

RAINFALL 100.5 mm (about 10 percent ABOVE normal)

(Data courtesy Environment Canada)

Summer to fall in two hours

The skyline of Moncton, NB, 16 Sept 2018 (Dearing)

An abrupt change in temperature thanks to a passing cold front turned summer quickly into fall in Greater Moncton this week.

On Tuesday, Environment Canada reports a temperature of 22°C at 11am which plummeted to 16°C by 1pm and the wind direction changed from the southeast to the northwest.

The long, hot summer in New Brunswick was suddenly over.

The daytime high on Wednesday was 13.6°C which was the coolest day since 25 June.

Forecasters are calling for near or slightly below seasonal temperatures until the end of the month (Normal high 18°C, normal low 7°C).

September snow in Alberta!

Snow falls in Edmonton, AB, 12 Sept 2018 (Instagram)

Cold Arctic air has combined with moisture moving over the Rockies to give Alberta a taste of winter in late summer.

Forecasters say northern Alberta including Edmonton could receive at least 8 cm snow with up to 15 cm in Jasper.

Temperatures are hovering near or slightly below freezing with a plunge to -6°C in northern British Columbia.

Environment Canada says more seasonable weather is not expected to return until early next week.

Snow in South Africa

Giraffe in the snow, Sneeuberg, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 08 Sept 2018 (Facebook)

An intense cold front has gripped South Africa bringing snowfall to southwestern parts of the country.

Temperatures fell below freezing in the Cape Provinces.

More than 10 cm snow forced the closure of roads through some mountain passes in Eastern Cape when trucks got stranded.

Meantime, as much as 100 mm rain drenched the southern coast.

Keep in mind it is still winter in the Southern Hemisphere with spring officially arriving on 23 September.

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)

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