Alberniweather and Port Alberni Summary for March 2023
Story of March 2023 – The Last La Niña – Amazing Northern Lights
It was a quiet month. We saw fairly average or slightly below average temperatures which is consistent with the 3 years of a La Niña pattern which is now finally ending. The airport only recorded one new short term record this month with a low temperature on the clear night of March 29th.
The clear skies did give us the opportunity for some rare viewing of particularly strong Northern Lights midway through the month. You can see some pictures from across Canada here:
It was notably dry. With City stations receiving not quite half the normal amount of rain and the Airport receiving less than 1/3rd the normal allotment of rain for March.
The snowpack is decent. Jump Creek is at 88% of normal as of April 1st and Wolf River (Strathcona) is 73%.
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 low temperature record at the Airport. It was not close to an all time record.
- Mar 29 – Low Temperature -4.1º C : Record is -7.2º C at Lupsi Cupsi in 1954
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.
Quite Average in 2023
This Month’s City Station Values Compared to Normal
Mean Min, Mean, and Mean Max Temperature,
Total Rain and Highest Wind
- Alberniweather: : 1.0º C, 5.0º C, 10.2º C, 75.2 mm, ENE 41.8 kph on 23rd
(Averages – Daily – CSV) - Maquinna Elem.: (No Data)
- Alberni Elem: (No Data)
- Dave’s (Uptown Port): 1.0º C, 4.9º C, 10.4º C, 87.4 mm, 17.7 kph on 22nd
- Nick’s (South Port): 1.3º C, 4.6º C, 9.2º C, 63.8 mm*, 14.5 kph on 27th
- Kitsuksis (North Alberni): 0.4º C, 4.7º C, 10.5º C, 87.9 mm, 21.6 kph on 30th
This Month’s Average City Value
- City Stations: 0.93º C, 4.8º C, 10.1º C, 83.5 mm*, ENE 41.8 kph on 23rd
- Normal 1971-2000 (Prt Alb A (Somass)): 2.7º C, 5.9º C, 10.8° C, 190.9 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
-1.8° C, -1.1º C, -0.7º C, -107.4 mm (43.7% of normal)
This Month’s Average Airport Values (Using Precipitation)
- Airport (Port Alberni AUT) : -0.7º C, 4.5º C, 9.6° C, 69.2 mm, ESE 46 kph on 7th
- Normal 1971-2000 (Rbrtsn Creek): 0.2º C, 5.2º C 10.2° C, 229.7 mm
Differences from Normal (1971-2000) at the Airport
-0.5° C, -0.7º C, -0.6º C, -160.5 mm (30.1% of normal)
Normal Days of Precipitation at Airport (1971-2000)
- >= 0.2 mm: 16.6 : 18 This Month
- >= 5 mm: 10.5 : 4
- >= 10 mm: 8.1 : 2
- >= 25 mm: 3.8 : 0
* 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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