March 28, 2010 Weather update

As many of you might know, this winter has seen several above normal air temperatures here in Churchill. In particular, the first two weeks of March saw several record air temperature records shattered by several degrees in some cases.

Dr. David Phillips with Environment Canada provided us with the following maximum temperature records at Churchill (records dating back to 1943) where new daily maximum temperature records were recorded (all temperatures in degrees Celsius):

March 3 +4.2 in 2010, previous record +3.0 in 2000
March 4 +2.1 in 2010, previous record -2.2 in 1965
March 5 +1.3 in 2010, previous record -2.6 in 1992
March 6 +4.0 in 2010, previous record +2.4 in 1977

March 12 +2.5 in 2010, previous record -0.5 in 1995
March 14 +1.1 in 2010, previous record +0.6 in 1972
March 15 +6.1 in 2010, previous record +2.1 in 1991
March 16 +4.7 in 2010, previous record +3.9 in 1970

Temperatures in the later half of March have returned to much more seasonal conditions. Last weekend (March 20 and 21) we received some light snowfall that was redistributed by the wind over the landscape. There is still approximately 70 cm of snow in the typical forested areas with patchy snow conditions in the tundra area. You can visit our previous introductory post for a photograph of the snow conditions north of the CNSC taken on Friday, March 26, 2010.

The following map is the monthly forecast for air temperatures across Canada for March 16 - April 15, 2010 from the Environment Canada website.


The Weather Network is predicting temperatures to be hovering around zero with several days maximum temperatures above zero for the next two weeks. It will be interesting to see what the weather conditions are over the next few days with some snow and rain showers in the forecast.

Temperatures hovered around -22 oC yesterday morning in Churchill for the start of the Hudson Bay Quest dog sled race. Check here to see the leader board and who crosses the finish line first!