PLENTY MORE WINTER AHEAD
If you think it’s cold and snowy in Prince George now, here’s a sobering thought.
Winter is just getting started and there are more bone-chilling days ahead.
And if last year was any indicator, it could be even colder once February rolls around.
Before this week, winter had been a breeze. The coldest days at Prince George Airport came back-to-back on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, when it hit -18.6 C, which isn’t far off the -13.9 C average low for this time of year. 2019 was, on average, about one degree cooler than normal for Prince George. The average mean temperature was 3.4 C, compared to the average of 4.3 C. July was the warmest month, averaging 15.3 C, slightly below the historical average for the month, 15.8 C.
Not once did in the heat of last summer did the mercury reach 30 C, the first time that’s happened since 2016. The three hottest days of the year for Prince George were 28 C (Aug. 7) , 27.8 C (July 22), and 26.4 C (June 12).
On the cold end of the scale, February 2019 was a brutal month with seven days of lows in the -30s, including the three coldest days of 2019, -38.6 C (Feb. 4), -33.8 (Feb. 6 and Feb. 11).
“All of Western Canada was cold in February,” said Lundquist.
The coldest days came in the first couple weeks of the month, when athletes began arrive in the city to train for the World Para Nordic Ski Championships at Otway Nordic Centre. The average high in Prince George that month was -10.2 C, while the average low was -25.
Only on the last two days of February was it warm enough to melt ice and it just barely made it with highs of 1C Feb. 27 and 2C on Feb. 28. That came after a mild January with only one really cold day when it hit -25.4 C (Jan. 8).
Total precipitation for 2019r was 90 per cent of the average for Prince George with 532 mm falling from the sky, compared to the average on 595 mm.
After devastating wildfire seasons in 2017 and 2018, there were very few destructive weather-related incidents last year and most of the province was breathing clean air.
“For B.C, there was not a lot of fire weather, not a lot of severe weather, it seemed like a quiet year,” said Lundquist.