Alberniweather and Port Alberni Summary for February 2023 and Winter Season 2022-2023
Story of February – Chilly and snowy but where was the rain?
We had a few interesting snowfall events in February, especially on the East side of the Island and the extreme west coast! What we did not see was much rain and indeed our final stats show that we got about half the average amount of rain for the month of February.
It’s also worth noticing that this might be the continuation of a pattern of smaller amounts of rain falling in the month of February. While February is definitely when we start turning the corner from the dark rainy months of the fall and early winter and looking toward spring, up to the turn of the 21st century we could often count on February delivering over 300 or over 500mm of rain in the month.
This month’s total at the Airport of just 140.7mm continues a trend since 2000 of no totals reaching over 350mm. Our last total over 350mm was in 1999 when both the Robertson Creek and Airport stations recorded around 570mm. It was ten year later, the El Niño Olympic year of 2010 before we saw a total over 200mm, and the highest we’ve got since is just over 300mm in 2013 and 2016.
Check out the graph a little further down to see the much more variable nature of rainfall totals in February in past history.
The temperatures for the month were fairly average and as a result the Airport only set one small record for precipitation on February 4th and one for low temperature on the 24th. Neither were close to all time records.
Story of Winter 2022/2023 – Surprisingly Average
As it is the end of February, that means it’s the end of Meteorological Winter! So you can check out the updated graphs for Winters in Port Alberni since 1894 further down the page.
This winter did not stand out in the records except perhaps that the extreme maximum temperatures we reached were just average, continuing a trend we have seen in the past 3 La Niña influenced winters.
In fact, all values ended up near long term averages. However, with El Niño likely to come next winter, this will probably be the new base of our ever rising floor of temperatures. I expect next year to be significantly warmer, if not wetter.
Rainfall during the season was below average, like it was last year. However, we did see a significant amount of snow, so in terms of snowpack we might not be as bad off as we have been going into the spring melt.
New Additions – Community Personal Weather Stations
I’ve added two new (and one returning) source of data for the monthly “City Station Values”. You’ll now see values for “Dave’s” station in Uptown Port, “Nick’s” Station from South Port (he’s provided his data to these reports in the past), and a “Kitsuksis” station for North Port. I am able to get the data for all of these stations from their Weather Underground reporting page so I am glad to be able to add them here. We’ll again be able to see the different micro-climate around the City. I may add more at a later date.
That’s all for now! Enjoy the data and graphs below!
Daily and All Time Day Records Set for the Month
Set at Airport* since 1994 and compared to other stations** since 1900
(1895 for rain, 1980 for snow on ground)
Just one precipitation and one low temperature record this month! The Airport also reported Snow on Ground on February 25th for the first time in its short records since 2019.
- Feb 4 – Precipitation 32.3 mm : Record is 59.6 mm at Robertson Crk in 1990
- Feb 24 – Low Temperature -9.1º C : Record is -13.9º C at Beaver Crk in 1936
- Feb 25 – Snow on Ground (First Measurement) 5.0 cm
This Month’s Graphs from Historic Alberni Valley Weather Stations
Temperature and Rainfall Graphs combining Environment Canada stations and Alberniweather.
Latest values on the far right, click to enlarge/download.
We were below the average and continuing a low trend.
Winter 2022/2023 Graphs from Historic Alberni Valley Weather Stations
Temperature and Rainfall Graphs combining Environment Canada stations and Alberniweather for the Winter months of December, January and February.
We were a little below average.
This Month’s City Station Values Compared to Normal
Mean Min, Mean, and Mean Max Temperature,
Total Precipitation and Highest Wind
- Alberniweather: : 1.1º C, 3.6º C, 6.8º C, 144.8 mm, SE 56.3 kph on 3rd
(Averages – Daily – CSV) - Maquinna Elem.: (No Data)
- Alberni Elem: (No Data)
- Dave’s (Uptown Port): 0.9º C, 3.4º C, 6.6º C, 155.4 mm, 19.3 kph on 6th
- Nick’s (South Port): 1.0º C, 3.2º C, 5.9º C, 109.2 mm*, 19.3 kph on 3rd
- Kitsuksis (North Port): 0.6º C, 3.3º C, 6.9º C, 157.2 mm, 24.5 kph on 6th
This Month’s Average City Value
- City Stations: 0.9º C, 3.4º C, 6.5º C, 152.5 mm*, NNE 51.5 kph on 4th
- Normal 1971-2000 (Prt Alb A (Somass)): 0.1º C, 3.6º C, 7.1° C, 238.7 mm
- *omitted Nick’s rain value from the average as it is significantly lower than all others
Differences from Normal (1971-2000) in the City
+0.8° C, -0.2º C, +0.6º C, -86.2 mm (63.8% of normal)
This Month’s Average Airport Values
- Airport (Port Alberni AUT) : -0.5º C, 2.8º C, 6.1° C, 140.7 mm, SW 36 kph on 7th
- Normal 1971-2000 (Rbrtsn Creek): -0.8º C, 2.8º C 6.3° C, 254 mm
Differences from Normal (1971-2000) at the Airport
+2.9° C, +2.9º C, +2.9º C, -113.3 mm (55.4% of normal)
Normal Days of Precipitation at Airport (1971-2000)
- >= 0.2 mm: 16.6 : 18 This Month
- >= 5 mm: 10.5 : 9
- >= 10 mm: 8.1 : 5
- >= 25 mm: 3.8 : 1
* May have used backup Environment Canada Data source at WeatherStats.ca for Missing Data
** Short Term means since 1994 at the new AVRA Airport. Airport Records are compared to the 30+ year weather stations of record since 1900 (1895 for rain) at Beaver Creek, Port Alberni “City” and Robertson Creek. Note that records pre 1950 may be more likely to over-estimate high temperatures.
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