Environment Canada Data – Page 3

May 2014 – Canada is Cooling at -0.32C Per Decade Since 1998

Published on June 10, 2014June 10, 2014 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

Environment Canada publishes monthly summaries here. The data included Tmax, Tmean, Tmin and Normals (the D column). The Normals column is “Mean Temperature difference from Normal (1971-2000) (°C)”. These are supposedly the higher quality stations. Only some of the stations get a Normals value.

I could just look at the stations with Normals and summarize the data. But some of the stations are close together. So I thought why not summarize the data by 1×1 grid square and then summarize the grid squares.

Correction: I left the green line out of these graphs – The green line is the count of grid squares with data in them. That is dropping like a stone. (I will discuss this in another post).

And why not see what happens from 1998. We know 1998 is a pivot point in climate.

The trend for the whole country from 1998 is cooling at -0.32C/decade. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are cooling at over -.8 C /decade. Wow.

Here are the trends for each province.

All Provinces -0.32 C/decade

ALTA -0.61
BC -0.3 
MAN -0.86 
NB 0.06 
NFLD 0.15 
NS 0.02 
NU 0.47 
NWT -0.36 
ONT -0.38 
PEI 0.1 
QUE 0.01 
SASK -0.8 
YT -0.21

And here are the graphs for each province and then one more for the whole country. Click For bigger.

VANCOUVER HARBOUR CS May 25 (1958 – 2014)

Published on May 27, 2014May 27, 2014 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

I thought it was a little cold on Sunday (May 25) so I thought I would take a look at the daily data for a weather station near me using Environment Canada’s web service.

I picked VANCOUVER HARBOUR CS which is in the harbour in Vancouver BC.

It turns out May 25 was the 6th coldest maximum temperature since 1958 (the start of the data) and the coldest since 1998. It was also the 9th warmest minimum.

Remember, this is just one day’s data for 56 years. But there isn’t much of a CO2 signal is there? (Click graph for larger)

Canada March 2014 Visualized

Published on April 5, 2014 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

The data is from the daily data put out by Environment Canada. (It is wrong sometimes)

These are ONLY the “Normals” stations (the stations EC calculates anomalies for from the 1971-2000 mean)

The black circle in the top left corner represents 5C divergence from the “Normals”. Blue is cold. Red is warm. Click for bigger. Refresh to make it start over.

There are 3 maps: TMean,TMin and TMax. Click on each for bigger.

TMean

TMin

TMax

Canadian Weather Stations 1841 to 2014 – The Movie

Published on March 6, 2014March 6, 2014 by sunshinehours13 Comments

Using the Environment Canada monthly summaries I have made up 2 gif movies that show which weather stations reported data for each year from 1841.

1974 with 2826 is tops for number of stations. In comparison, 2014 so far only has 1215 stations. There were more stations reporting in 1951 than 2014.

(I don’t know why a weather station in South Dakota shows up in the monthly summaries.)

The 1841 to 1864 part is kind of slow. Toronto is the only station. One gif has Station Names. Not terribly readable. But fun. Click for bigger.

Canada February 2014 – Monthly Mean Temperature Anomalies Mapped

Published on March 5, 2014March 5, 2014 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

I have mapped the February 2014 mean temperature anomalies in the Environment Canada monthly summaries that have “normals”. The anomalies are calculated from selected stations based on the 1971-2000 average.

The size if the dot represents the size of the anomaly. The 5C black dot in the top left hand corner represents 5C difference from “normal”. Red dots are warmer than normal. Blue are cooler. And Green are 0.

Most of the prairies averaged 5C or more below “normal”. Click for bigger.

Canada February 2014 Visualized

Published on March 4, 2014 by sunshinehours1Leave a comment

The data is from the daily data put out by Environment Canada. (It is wrong sometimes)

These are ONLY the “Normals” stations (the stations EC calculates anomalies for from the 1971-2000 mean)

The black circle in the top left corner represents 5C divergence from the “Normals”. Blue is cold. Red is warm. Click for bigger. Refresh to make it start over.

There are 3 graphs: TMean,TMin and TMax. Feb 28 had average anomalies in the -8C range. Many were more than -10C. Polar Vortex!

TMean

TMin

TMax

British Columbia February 2014 – Coldest and Warmest

Published on March 2, 2014 by sunshinehours19 Comments

Using data from Environment Canada, these are the 25 coldest/warmest days in BC weather stations.

Something new I learned was that PUNTZI MOUNTAIN was a Pinetree Line base. While I was never anywhere near Puntzi Mountain, a long, long time ago I did spend 2 nights at the Kamloops Pinetree Line base. The “new” computer room was pretty big. The “old” computer room was massive.

Coldest

Name	DATE	MINTEMP	MAXTEMP
PUNTZI MOUNTAIN (AUT)	2014-02-06	-41.1	-14.7
PUNTZI MOUNTAIN (AUT)	2014-02-07	-40.1	-12.8
NELSON NE	2014-02-07	-40	-4.5
PUNTZI MOUNTAIN (AUT)	2014-02-05	-39.7	-15.6
PUNTZI MOUNTAIN (AUT)	2014-02-08	-38.9	-13.9
PUNTZI MOUNTAIN (AUT)	2014-02-09	-38.6	-12.1
PLEASANT CAMP	2014-02-23	-38	-3
DEASE LAKE (AUT)	2014-02-10	-37.7	-19.3
BUFFALO LAKE	2014-02-06	-37.5	-15
DEASE LAKE A	2014-02-10	-37.1	-19.1
BLUE RIVER A	2014-02-08	-36.6	-11
BLUE RIVER A	2014-02-07	-36.5	-13
BUFFALO LAKE	2014-02-05	-36.5	-16.5
BUFFALO LAKE	2014-02-08	-36.5	-13
FORT NELSON A	2014-02-11	-36.3	-18.9
BURNS LAKE DECKER LAKE	2014-02-07	-36.2	-12.3
CLINTON A	2014-02-06	-36.2	-14.3
FORT NELSON A	2014-02-13	-35.8	-18.6
DEASE LAKE (AUT)	2014-02-06	-35.7	-18.2
BLUE RIVER A	2014-02-06	-35.6	-15.3
BURNS LAKE DECKER LAKE	2014-02-06	-35.6	-14.2
BLUE RIVER CS	2014-02-06	-35.5	-14.4
BUFFALO LAKE	2014-02-07	-35.5	-17.5
BLUE RIVER CS	2014-02-07	-35.4	-13.4
DEASE LAKE A	2014-02-06	-35.3	-18.8

Warmest

Name	DATE	MINTEMP	MAXTEMP
CHROME ISLAND	2014-02-14	4	15
TAHSIS VILLAGE NORTH	2014-02-25	3	15
TAHSIS VILLAGE NORTH	2014-02-27	4	14.5
ZEBALLOS MURAUDE CREEK	2014-02-27	3	14.5
WHITE ROCK CAMPBELL SCIENTIFIC	2014-02-28	3.4	14.3
OSOYOOS CS	2014-02-12	-0.9	14.1
CASTLEGAR BCHPA DAM	2014-02-28	-9	14
PORT MELLON	2014-02-28	3.1	13.8
OSOYOOS CS	2014-02-13	0.2	13.6
SQUAMISH AIRPORT	2014-02-27	1.3	13.6
CHROME ISLAND	2014-02-13	5	13.5
GOLD RIVER TOWNSITE	2014-02-28	1	13.5
PENTICTON A	2014-02-12	-1.5	13.3
TOFINO A	2014-02-28	5.4	13.3
PENTICTON A	2014-02-13	-1.2	13.2
SQUAMISH AIRPORT	2014-02-28	0.8	13.2
QUALICUM BEACH AIRPORT	2014-02-13	2.9	13.1
GOLD RIVER TOWNSITE	2014-02-27	1.5	13
PITT MEADOWS CS	2014-02-28	1.9	13
SUMMERLAND CS	2014-02-12	0.2	13
TAHSIS VILLAGE NORTH	2014-02-28	1	13
ASHCROFT	2014-02-13	-0.1	12.9
DELTA BURNS BOG	2014-02-14	1.9	12.7
DELTA BURNS BOG	2014-02-13	2.2	12.6
NANAIMO A	2014-02-14	0.9	12.6

Snowfall in Canada January 1966 – Possibly the Snowiest Month Ever in Canada

Published on February 20, 2014February 20, 2014 by sunshinehours14 Comments

Yesterday I did a post looking at Snowfall in Canada for January 2014. After that I wondered what was the snowiest month in Canadian history?

I chose two semi-arbitrary criteria. Lots of weather stations so after 1940. And the largest average snowfall for all stations combined.

January 1966 was at the top of that list. Map of snowfall in Canada for January 1966 from Environment Canada’s monthly summaries.

The size of the black dot in the top left corner represents 100cm of snow. KITIMAT TOWNSITE got 436.9cm in January 1966. For the non-metric, that is 172 inches.

Click for bigger.

25 Snowiest Location in Canada January 1966 (Not Snow on the ground – Snowfall falling in one month)

Prov	Stn_Name	Snowfall in cm
BC	KITIMAT TOWNSITE	436.9
BC	GLACIER NP ROGERS PASS	343.1
BC	PINE PASS	327.3
BC	MICA DAM	322.2
BC	REVELSTOKE	300.4
BC	ALLISON PASS	294.6
BC	HOLLYBURN RIDGE	268.5
BC	TAHTSA LAKE WEST	267
BC	KITIMAT	261.5
BC	BLUE RIVER NORTH	259.9
BC	TUNNEL CAMP	232.1
BC	GARIBALDI	224.6
BC	FALLS RIVER	220.8
QUE	MONT-JOLI A	212.8
BC	MOUNT SEYMOUR	212.7
BC	ALTA LAKE 2	212.3
BC	KEMANO	210.2
QUE	ST OCTAVE DE L’AVENIR	208.8
ALTA	WATERTON PARK HQ	203.6
BC	PEMBERTON MEADOWS	198.1
NFLD	ST JOHN’S WEST CDA	193.6
BC	QUESNEL MOOSE HEIGHTS	193.3
BC	MALAKWA EAGLE R HATCHERY	193.2
QUE	FORESTVILLE	192.8
QUE	MURDOCHVILLE	191.1

Snowfall in Canada January 2014

Published on February 19, 2014 by sunshinehours11 Comment

Map of snowfall in Canada for January 2014 from Environment Canada’s monthly summaries.

The size of the black dot in the top left corner represents 100cm of snow. Muskoka got 158cm in January. For the non-metric, that is 62 inches.

Click for bigger.

25 Snowiest Location in Canada January 2014

Prov	Stn_Name	Snow in cm
ONT	MUSKOKA A	158
ONT	BALACLAVA	147
ONT	WIARTON A	139.9
ONT	MARKDALE	138.6
BC	MICA DAM	136.4
ONT	RAVENSCLIFFE	135.6
ONT	COLDWATER WARMINSTER	130.4
BC	WHISTLER ROUNDHOUSE	130.1
BC	BLUE RIVER A	129.4
NFLD	STEPHENVILLE A	121.4
ONT	JAMESTOWN	121.3
ONT	THORNBURY 3	120
ONT	SANDFIELD	118
ONT	KINCARDINE	105.4
QUE	SEPT-ILES UA	105.3
ONT	PETROLIA ROKEBY	96.8
ONT	WINDSOR A	93.6
BC	VERNON SILVER STAR LODGE	93
NS	GREENWOOD A	92.9
NS	LYONS BROOK	88
QUE	MONT STE-ANNE	87.5
NFLD	PLUM POINT	87.1
BC	GOLDSTREAM RIVER	86.5
ONT	SHANTY BAY	86.1
NFLD	BRANCH	84

The Sad State of Environment Canada’s Sunshine Data

Published on February 18, 2014 by sunshinehours14 Comments

Once up a time (June of 1978 to be precise) if you downloaded Environment Canada’s monthly summaries, you would have found 313 stations with “Bright Sunshine” hours.

As of January 2014, there is only one. (Ignore the title. Those are hours , not anomalies. I’m just depressed about the loss of data. How do we know whats going on if we don’t collect sunshine data???)