Bitter cold hangs on

Irishtown Nature Park reservoir is already frozen, 01 Dec 2018 (Dearing)

An Arctic air mass continues to have its grip over the Maritimes with today marking the sixth day of below freezing temperatures in Greater Moncton.

The early morning lows dropped to -16.1°C yesterday and -16.5°C today.

Brisk northwest winds have also created bitter wind chills into the -20s this weekend giving a risk of frostbite on exposed skin.

The normal high for early December is 0°C and the low is -8°C.

Environment Canada says temperatures may not climb above freezing until Friday making this one of the longest cold snaps in recent memory.

Advertisements

November 2018 – Cold & snowy

Snow settles in NE Moncton before changeover to rain, 10 Nov 2018 (Dearing)

About twice the normal amount of precipitation fell in Southeast New Brunswick during November which began as heavy rain and became heavy snow when it turned colder.

Two major rain events which included hurricane force winds were followed by the first snowfall of the season on the 10th and three more snow events to round out the month.

Greater Moncton had snow cover starting on the 14th and by the 30th, about 31 cm of snow was lying on the ground – almost eight times more than normal.

Temperatures were mild during the first third of the month and became decidedly frigid by the middle with lows near -15 C accompanied by bitterly cold wind chills.

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

Average HIGH 3.2°C

Average LOW -4.0°C

AVERAGE -0.4°C (about 2.3 degrees BELOW normal)

Extreme HIGH 17.1°C (03 Nov)

Extreme LOW -15.3°C (22 Nov)

RAINFALL 141.4 mm (about 50 percent ABOVE normal)

SNOWFALL 75.0 cm (about 4 times ABOVE normal)

(Data courtesy Environment Canada)

Back-to-back systems batter N.B.

Freshly fallen snow in west end Moncton, 29 Nov 2018 (Dearing)

Southeast New Brunswick has been under a gloomy, grey sky all week thanks to a couple of low pressure systems.

The first one brought rain, drizzle and fog while the second brought heavy, wet snow to make this November one of the snowiest in recent memory.

Eastern New Brunswick got the brunt of the snow with Miramichi picking up a whopping 43 cm of snow while Greater Moncton had a hefty 28 cm.

Most of the snow in Nova Scotia fell over northern and eastern areas with heavy rain falling elsewhere.

Strong winds up to 89 km/h caused a storm surge along the Gulf of St. Lawrence coast.

Gusts of more than 100 km/h were reported on Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton Island.

Bitter cold ahead of more snow

Temperatures sunk early Monday across the Maritimes with some New Brunswick locations shattering records by almost five degrees dating back to the 1880’s.

The bitter cold precedes another storm system which could bring up to 25 cm of snow to southern New Brunswick, most of Prince Edward Island and northern Nova Scotia.

While it plunged to -14.7°C in Greater Moncton, the 1936 record still stands at -16.7°C.

Here are some of the new record lows set in the region on 19 November:

• Bathurst, NB -22.5°C
• Woodstock, NB -21.4°C
• Miramichi, NB -20.2°C
• Kouchibouguac, NB -20.0°C
• Summerside, PE -15.7°C
• Charlottetown, PE -15.2°C

Nor’easter follows record cold

Snow settles in NE Moncton before a changeover to rain, 28 Oct 2018 (Dearing)

A frosty Saturday morning proved record breaking at the Greater Moncton International Airport when the thermometer plunged to -6.6°C which breaks the previous cold low from 1998 by 0.1°C.

Frigid temperatures were also set in Edmundston at -12.2°C, Woodstock at -11.7°C and Saint John at -8.4°C with weather records going back to 1886.

The Arctic cold was soon replaced by a low pressure system with some tropical moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Willa.

The early season Nor’easter brought snow, ice pellets and eventually rain to the Maritimes along with gusty winds which uprooted trees in parts of New England.

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.

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.