Winter weather stats up and down

December and January were warmer than usual in Iqaluit this winter, but February bucked the trend with colder than usual temperatures.

December posted a monthly mean temperature nearly four degrees warmer than normal in the capital city and two warm spells hit record temperatures 10 °C warmer than usual.

January was even balmier, with a monthly mean 5.5 °C warmer than normal. The warmest winter temperature, -1 °C, was recorded on Jan. 10 during an 11-day warm spell.

The coldest winter temperature, however, was recorded on Feb. 11 when the overnight low dipped to -41.1 °C with the windchill.

At 53 mm, Iqaluit was close to its winter season normal of 54.3 mm. With a winter sunshine level of 133.8 hours, Iqaluit recorded its dullest winter in 39 years.

Rankin Inlet’s winter was normal, statistically speaking, with the seasonal mean temperature deviating from the norm by only 0.5 °C. Precipitation amounts were also close to the normal of 26.8 mm at 26.4 mm.

But December was an abnormally warm month for the community. The warmest temperature of the season, -2 °C, was recorded Dec. 17 in the middle of a seven-day warm period when temperatures were 10 °C to 20 °C warmer than normal. New record maximum temperatures were set five days in a row.

January continued the trend, being the warmest January on record for Rankin Inlet. A new record maximum temperature, -12.9 °C, was set Jan. 6.

The blizzards returned to the community in February and the coldest temperature of the winter season, -40 °C, was recorded on Feb. 4. Precipitation amounts were near normal in December, higher than normal in January and dry in February.