THE ENTRY PERIOD HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL FRIDAY, MAY 18th at 9AM!

I promised a contest starting May 1 and here it is! When will we have our first 30C day in 2012?

Enter your guesses in the comments! (Most folks are guessing July right now… what do YOU think?) Guessing is open until May 15th.

Get those entries in soon!

The sun is back, barely, the backyard is warming up, a little. It’s time for a contest!

The Question: When will the temperature at Alberniweather.ca hit 30C?

The Prize?: Healthy Habits on Victoria Quay is offering up a Summer Snack Pack – a bag of mixed, healthy goodies!!

So when do you think we will hit 30C? Note I didn’t have a contest last year because it was just so cold… In fact, we only had spans of 30C temperatures twice last summer. And the first time was a brief spike on August 19th. We finally got a longer 4 day stretch from Sept 8 through the 11th but after that it was like we hit a wall and the thermostat got turned back down.
Check out the graph of last years “bummer summer” from May 1 to October 1:

So is that going to happen again? Well….. who knows? The waters off our shores are still cold but might be showing a warming trend. La Nina has ended, but El Nino isn’t picking up steam yet. And there is heat out there… remember the “Summer in March” that happened in the NorthEast US and Eastern Canada? (Quickly followed by a snow storm!) Now they’re having a record breaking heat wave in Europe.

There is lots to consider. What do you think? Add your thoughts in the comments, we might be chatting about this for a while!

I will have the contest open for 2 weeks until 6AM on May 15th.

Good Luck!

And oh ya… Here are the rules:

#1: You must pick a date, hour, and minute (eg. July 3 12:45). Minutes should be on the fives.

#2: Closest time wins.

#3: You must enter your guess in the comments section of this post.

#4: You can only pick once, so choose carefully.

#5: You have 2 weeks to make your choices, choices must be entered by 6AM Tuesday, May 15, 2012.– EXTENDED to 9AM MAY 18, 2012

#6: If my wife (Theresa) wins she will get a prize as will the next closest contestant.

#7: When the “High Temp” on the Daily Almanac registers 30.00C or higher, a winner will be chosen.

#8: I reserve the right to add to these rules since I probably missed something. :)

……….

And remember this? The Heatwave in 2007 where we hit 40C for multiple days?

And in 2006 we had over two dozen days over 30C, and I recorded my hottest temperature (40.96C)!

Well, it can’t get any more official than what has happened in the past couple hours!

THe snow started at approximately 9:10AM this morning and it has continued. We now have about 1cm (judging by the webcam) with likely a little more in places.

We could get up to 5cm today. It should turn to rain, but the temperature has flatlined since the snow starts, so unless some of the warm wind affecting the West and East coast filters into the Valley it is possible that all precipitation that falls today could fall as snow.

Please Stay and Drive Safe!

Sutton Pass is in bad shape.
The Hump looks snowy, but nothing on the road. I would be wary of the Little Qualicum Falls and Whiskey Creek area of Hwy 4 though as it is often worse there.

CONGRATULATIONS to Jochem Juurlink! Who guessed 6:10AM today for the Snow Contest. I’m calling the contest as of 10:45AM.

The next nearest guess were Holly Murray and Ryan Sumen at 5:30PM last night and 10:20PM tonight respectively.

Jochem — please email me and we’ll arrange how to get your prize from Healthy Habits!

Note: It is starting to snow in Nanaimo as well, and it is quite blustery. Careful driving.

Alberniweather Yard

Sutton Pass

Alberniweather Webcam

Hump Hwy4