While it has felt very warm the last couple of weeks, the coldest day of the 2018/2019 winter was March 3.
In the early morning hours it dipped down to -18.1 C which also set a new daily record minimum, as did the next two nights. This was due to a modified arctic air mass that traveled a great distance from the north.
“As it approaches us it takes on characteristics of the lower latitudes. A little bit warmer. A little bit of moisture,” Forecaster at the South East Fire Centre Jesse Ellis explains. “The other thing that we needed to really hit that cold temperature were two things. Calm wind and clear skies.”
It was the coldest day in March in 54 years.
Less than half the month’s normal amount of precipitation fell as well.
While total rainfall was less than a quarter of normal, snowfall totals came in at 47 % above normal.
Two thirds of the total 31 millimeters of precipitation turned to snow.
Ellis simplifies the data.
“It was colder than normal. It was dryer than normal. Overall, since it was so much colder than normal, we picked up more than the average in snow.”
The last of the valley bottom snow was melted off at the Castlegar Airport on March 24. It was one of the latest snow-free dates of the last 10 years.
However, temperatures would rise to 18.9 C on March 30. That’s a 37 C differential in 27 days, but still the average temperature was 1.8 C cooler than normal.
