Last time I was writing about a January thaw – several daily records were set and the duration rivaled anything in the instrument records of Armstrong, Geraldton, Nakina and other northern locations.
January is almost always the coldest month in this part of the world. If one wants cold, perhaps “patience” is the key word. Temperatures became “normal” around mid-month, cold enough for most people, especially with windy conditions. Then, a week later, serious cold sets in.
In some ways it was convenient, -40 is -40, whether one speaks Fahrenheit or Celsius. Blame this on an Arctic vortex, a persistent large-scale low-pressure circulation pattern that produces a funnel of cold air that reaches thousands of miles/kilometres to the south. There was a break, but a similar pattern re-established late in January and has persisted into February with temperatures slowly heading towards a possible February thaw.
Graham Saunders
