October in Chilliwack wasn’t just unseasonably warm, it was a record breaker.
Roger Pannett, a volunteer weather observer for Environment Canada, reports that this October came in as the warmest since local record keeping started in 1895.
There was visible evidence of the warmth all over the valley, from increased blooms in local flowers to the lack of snowfall in local mountains.
Some of that warm weather came from the remnants of Hurricane Oho. The storm’s warm winds blew in on Oct. 7 and 8, bringing light rainfall and gusts of wind throughout the Fraser Valley.
Four days in October broke records with high minimums above previous records. Pannett said the return to warm weather after a slightly cooler September is thanks to El Nino and the “warm blob” in the eastern Pacific.
The mean (overall) temperatures throughout the month were higher than usual, too.
Pannett says: “With mean temperatures for the month an amazing 2.77 C above normal (standard deviation 1.1 C), it was the warmest October in Chilliwack since records commenced in 1895. The mean temperature of 13.77 C exceeded the previous mean records of 13.7 C in 2014 and 13.5 C in 1952.”
The entire year has been notable for weather pattern changes. There have been 61 high temperature records broken in 2015, in Chilliwack.
And even though rain has started to fall, Pannett says the amount for all of October is still 36 per cent below normal.
Again that’s on track for a warm, dry year. Year to date precipitation totals are 949.6 mm on 126 days, compared to the 30 year average of 1.346.7 mm on 133 days.
The warmest day of the month was Oct. 4, when temperatures peaked at 21.9 C, 4.7 C above normal.
jpeters@theprogress.com
