October 2022 – October Heat Leads to Raft of Records and Shocking Averages
Records were set!
Alberniweather and Port Alberni Summary for October 2022
Story of the Month – Summer that never ends!
The story was the heat with a side of extended drought. The normal average temperature for the month of October is the same whether you’re talking about the Airport (Valley) or town (closer to the sea). Both the City stations and the Airport had average maximum temperatures 5.9º C hotter than normal. Shocking.
In other words, your normal high temperature during October would average out around 14-15ºC. This October, the average was over 20ºC. It was the highest in the records dating back to 1900. 1906 was the top before, and frankly it looked like an outlier. This month, even though the Airport was missing data from the 6th, one of the hottest days, it still tied that record and so will have been hotter. Alberniweather was 1ºC hotter still.
The Airport set a new standard in its own records (since 1994) on 19 or 31 days. 17 of those more than half of the month, new highs. Stunning.
5 new all time day highs were set going back to 1900 though the top for the month, 31.7ºC, was not.
We also had no rain for the majority of the month. Continuing a dry spell that began in late July. We ended up getting a few days of rain which brought us up to around 1/3rd of our normal rainfall for the month.
Check out the list of records below and the graphs that show a couple more.
Daily and All Time Day Records Set
Set at Airport* since 1994 and compared to other stations** since 1900 (1895 for rain)
Nineteen of thirty one days set some sort of record at the Airport since 1994. The Airport now holds one new All Time Record high temperature for October 15 and is 2nd only to Robertson Creek which now holds All Time Records for October 2, 3, 14 and 16. In addition the Airport set a low temperature and rainfall record on October 23 and 27 respectively. They were not all-time records.
- Oct 1 – High Temp 28.0º C : Record is 31.7ºC at Beaver Creek in 1923.
- Oct 2 – High Temp 29.3º C : SECOND ONLY TO ROBERTSON CREEK SAME DAY – Previous High 29.0 Cox Lake 1993 – Robertson Creek Oct 2 – High Temp 30.0º C : ALL TIME HIGHEST
- Oct 3 – High Temp 28.8º C : SECOND ONLY TO ROBERTSON CREEK SAME DAY – Previous High 28.9 Beaver Creek 1932 – Robertson Creek Oct 2 – High Temp 29.5º C : ALL TIME HIGHEST
- Oct 5 – High Temp 25.4º C : Record is Roberson Creek Same Day 2022 26.5º C
- Oct 7 – High Temp 28.3º C : Record is Beaver Creek 29.4ºC in 1921
- Oct 8 – High Temp 27.7º C : Record is Robertson Creek Same Day 2022 28.5º C
- Oct 9 – High Temp 27.5º C : Record is Robertson Creek Same Day 2022 28.0º C
- Oct 10 – High Temp 23.8º C : Record is Beaver Creek 31.1º C in 1921
- Oct 11 – High Temp 22.1º C (Tied with 1993) : Record is Beaver Creek 28.3º C in 1916
- Oct 12 – High Temp 23.7º C : Record is Beaver Creek 28.3º C in 1902
- Oct 13 – High Temp 25.7º C : Record is Beaver Creek 26.1º C in 1925
- Oct 14 – High Temp 25.7º C : SECOND ONLY TO ROBERTSON CREEK SAME DAY – Previous High 25.0 Beaver Creek 1925 – Robertson Creek Oct 14 – High Temp 26.0º C : ALL TIME HIGHEST
- Oct 15 – High Temp 27.6º C : ALL TIME HIGHEST – Robertson Creek Second Highest on Same Day – Beaver Creek Third Highest in 1907, 1911, 1916
- Oct 16 – High Temp 26.3º C : SECOND ONLY TO ROBERTSON CREEK SAME DAY – Previous High 23.3º C Beaver Creek 1907 – Roberson Creek Oct 16 – High Temp 26.5º C : ALL TIME HIGHEST
- Oct 18 – High Temp 22.8º C : Record is 25.0º C at Beaver Creek in 1907
- Oct 19 – High Temp 21.5º C : Record is 21.7º C at Beaver Creek in 1926
- Oct 20 – High Temp 21.9º C : Record is 25.0º C at Beaver Creek in 1925
- Oct 23 – Low Temp -3.0º C : Record is -4.4º C at Beaver Creek in 1916
- Oct 27 – Rain 28.9 mm : Record is 69.4 mm at Robertson Creek in 1981
This Month’s Graphs from Alberni Valley Weather Stations
A selection of graphs from Environment Canada stations and Alberniweather
City Station Values
Mean Min, Mean, and Mean Max Temperature,
Total Precipitation and Highest Wind
- Alberniweather (Averages – Daily): 7.7º C, 13.3º C, 21.0º C, 77.0 mm, SE 64.4 kph on 27th
- Maquinna Elem.: 11.5º C, 15.5º C,20.3º C, 87.1 mm, NA
City and Airport Averages
Compared to Normal
Differences from Normal (1971-2000) in the City
+4.6° C, +4.5º C, +5.9º C, -111.6 mm (42.4%)
This Month’s Average City Values
- City Stations: 9.6º C, 14.4º C, 20.7º C, 82 mm
- Normal 1971-2000 (Prt Alb A (Somass)): 5.0 ºC, 9.9 ºC 14.8 °C, 193.6 mm
Differences from Normal (1981-2010) at the Airport
+0.2° C, +2.8º C, +5.9º C, -231.2 mm (31.3%)
This Month’s Average Airport Values
- Airport : 4.7º C, 12.5º C, 20.3° C, 105.7 mm
- Normal 1981-2010 (Rbrtsn Creek): 4.9º C, 9.7º C 14.4° C, 336.9 mm
Normal Days of Precipitation at Airport (1981-2010)
- >= 0.2 mm: 15.8 : 9
- >= 5 mm: 8.2 : 7
- >= 10 mm: 5.8 : 5
- >= 25 mm: 2.6 : 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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