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WARMEST YEAR EVER AT YYT
January 15, 2013 7:25 PM
The numbers are in! (Big shout out to @rcbstormpost for passing on the
final numbers)
It was close... but in the end, 2012 was the WARMEST YEAR in St. John's, since records began at the airport back in 1942! The average daytime for 2012 was 10.5°
and the average daily temperature finished at 6.68°
As mentioned in my Year in Review piece, it was an unprecedented year of warmth for
much of the Province. Here in St. John's in particular, the records were numerous &
notable.
2012 MONTHLY BREAKDOWN
There was no doubt this year was going to compete with some of the warmest
ever, when we had months like January, April & September finishing a
whopping 3° to 4° warmer than average. Other than March & June, pretty much
every other month finished 2° degrees warmer than average!
JANUARY
High: 1.6°, Low -5.5°, Avg -1.9°
(3.7° warmer than 1971-2000 average)
FEBRUARY
High: -0.7°, Low -6.6°, Avg -3.6°
(1.8° warmer than avg)
MARCH
High: 1.1°, Low -5.4°, Avg -2.2°
(0.3° warmer than avg)
APRIL
High: 10.1°, Low 0.7°, Avg 5.4°
(3.8° warmer than avg)
MAY
High: 12.7°, Low 3.0°, Avg 7.9°
(1.7° warmer than avg)
JUNE
High: 13.9°, Low 5.8°, Avg 9.8°
(0.4° cooler than avg & our only month below normal)
JULY
High: 22.6°, Low 12.4°, Avg 17.5°
(2.1° warmer than avg)
AUGUST
High: 22.5°, Low 14.0°, Avg 18.2°
(2.7° warmer than avg)
SEPTEMBER
High: 19.5°, Low 10.2°, Avg 14.8°
(3.0° warmer than avg)
OCTOBER
High: 12.5°, Low 6.1°, Avg 9.3°
(2.4° warmer than avg)
NOVEMBER
High: 7.9°, Low 1.9°, Avg 4.8°
(2.2° warmer than avg)
DECEMBER
High: 2.1°, Low -2.7°, Avg -0.3°
(1.9° warmer than avg)
2012 AVERAGE
High: 10.5°, Low 2.8°, Avg 6.7°
(2° warmer than the 1971-2000 average of 4.7)
WARMEST YEARS AT YYT
It's interesting to note that in 1999, St. John's actually experienced a
warmer average daytime High at 10.9°, however that year the average nightly low
finished at 2.3°. Compare that to this year, where the average nightly low was a
full half degree warmer! No doubt, the much warmer than normal ocean
temperatures in the North Atlantic this year had a major influence on keeping
those overnight temperatures warmer.
Any doubt it's been getting warmer over the past decade? 5 of the 7 warmest
years on record (including 2000 at 5.8°) have occurred since 1999!
Note the changes in the average daily temperature for St. John's in the past 14 years. A whole 1 degree warmer! Obviously it's a much smaller sample size than the previous 57 years, but it's interesting none the less!
1942-1998 daily average temp: 4.72°
1999-2012 daily average temp: 5.75°
COLDEST YEARS AT YYT
What's interesting to note here is, 1992 wasn't just cold in St. John's, but globally thanks to
the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991. Scientists estimate both 1992 & 1993
were cooler than average thanks to eruption. It's interesting to see both of
those years on the list!
Ryan
