It’s time for the August 2013 recap, Salmon Festival and Labour Day weekend edition!

Here is the Timelapse!

This August might have felt a little cool and wet compared to July, and it was wet, but actually still warmer or near normal for both the 1970 and 1980 thirty year normals for both average and minimum temperatures, but cooler for maximums. The overall average temperature for all the stations in the Valley was 18.3C, a full degree cooler than July. That was thanks to our average high plummeting 3C from 27.1C in July to 24.3C. So the days definitely did not feel as hot. And compared to the July drought, the double normal rainfall at the Airport is notable, though it didn’t really kick in until the last half of the month so we still had serious fire danger right up until the Labour Day weekend.

September has started off pretty interesting. We’ve had a nice weekend, but Monday night has brought flash flooding to Parksville. Where did that come from??? Maybe we will get an answer in the next few days. In the meantime, Tuesday looks wet starting in the late morning. Then it dries out for Wednesday before rain unfortunately returns for Thursday and into Friday. We will see if that changes a bit, it might be the east coast getting the worst of it, so it might not be all bad news for the Fall Fair. More details Wednesday.

– Stats for the Month –

Average Daily Temperature:
All Station Ave. Difference from 1970-2000 normal: +0.4C
Official (Airport) Difference from 1970-2000 normal: +0.4C
Alberniweather:18.3C
Environment Canada Airport: 18.3C
Alberni Elementary:18.4C
Maquinna: 18.0C
Neptune Canada: 18.6C
Overall Average: 18.3C
1971-2000 Environment Canada Normal (A – Somass): 17.9C
1981-2010 Environment Canada Normal (A – Somass): 18.03C

Average Minimum Daily Temperature
All Station Ave. Difference from 1970-2000 normal: +2.9C
Official (Airport) Difference from 1970-2000 normal: +1.6C
Alberniweather: 13.8C
EC: 12.1C
AES: 13.6C
MAQ:13.4C
NEP: 13.9C
Overall Average: 13.4C
1971-2000 Environment Canada Normal (A – Somass): 10.5C
1981-2010 Environment Canada Normal (A – Somass): 10.49C

Average Maximum Daily Temperature
All Station Ave. Difference from 1970-2000 normal: -0.9C
Official (Airport) Difference from 1970-2000 normal: -0.6C
Alberniweather: 24.3C
EC: 24.6C
AES: 24.3C
MAQ: 24.3C
NEP: 24.1C
Overall Average: 24.3C
1971-2000 Environment Canada Normal (A – Somass): 25.2C
1981-2010 Environment Canada Normal (A – Somass): 25.52C

Average Rainfall
All Station Ave. Difference from 1970-2000 normal: +14.3mm
Official (Airport) Difference from 1970-2000 normal: +43.1mm

Alberniweather: 54.6mm
EC: 84.4mm
AES: 33.8mm
MAQ: 51.6mm
NEP: NA (not measured)
Overall Average: 56.1mm
1971-2000 Environment Canada Normal (A – Somass): 41.8mm
1981-2010 Environment Canada Normal (A – Somass): 38.49mm

Comparison to recent years at Alberniweather (only).
Remember those “Bummer Summers”? Not this year!

2012:
2013 was 0.5C cooler on average. Warmer on our minimums but cooler on our maximums. August 2012 was dry (remember the drought that lasted through October?) with only 12mm of rain but August 2013 has been wet. (And even flash flooding reported this night of Sept 2nd in Parksville)

2011:
2013 was warmer than the bummer summer 2011 on average, but high temps were almost exactly the same. Lows were warmer. July 2011 was wet, 39.9mm, similar to here. But while the Airport and Alberniweather received similar amounts of rain in 2011, the Airport got more than double what city stations received this year. Rainfall seems spotty and unpredictably large at times this year.

2010:
August 2013 was a little warmer than 2010 for average and minimum temps, but cooler for high temps. 2010 got less rain.

2009:
August 2009 was similar to this year for temperature, but drier.

2008:
2008 was warmer for highs but cooler lows. 2008 had similar rain. (54mm)

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