There’s always exceptions, but February 2024 will go into the record books as a normal month.
“The only notable events or anomalies were a shot of hail not often seen at this time of the year and a total snowfall of less than one centimetre, a tiny fraction of the normal,” noted Chris Carss, who compiles weather data at his Chemainus home for Environment and Climate Change Canada. “The number of partly or mostly sunny days was a little above normal. However, this is the month that usually kicks off our transition from winter to spring and our sunshine usually reaches nearly double what we get in December.”
Carss’ summary of the month is as follows: Feb. 1-2 had mostly cloudy skies with a little rain and above normal temperatures; Feb. 2-14 saw variable cloud, mostly light intermittent rain and near normal temperatures; Feb. 15 featured a brief winter boomerang that brought a dusting of snow and below normal temperatures; Feb. 16-21 saw a return to near normal temperatures with three days of partly sunny weather followed by three days of rain; Feb. 22-25 brought a spell of mild conditions that started off a bit wet but quickly turned dry with intermittent sunshine; Feb. 26-27 was a two-day winter boomerang with a mix of rain, snow and hail; and the last two days Feb. 28-29 bounced around between normal and below normal values with rain that tapered off to a few showers for Leap Day.
The breakdown of the statistics was as follows:
Temperature
Mean maximum 8.4 C, normal 8.4 C.
Mean minimum 3.3 C, normal 2.4 C.
Extreme maximum 13.0 C on Feb. 25.
Extreme minimum -1.5 C on Feb. 27.
Precipitation
Total days with precipitation (including mixed weather days) 15, normal 16.
Total days with rain 13.
Accumulated rainfall 126.6 mm, normal 117.3 mm.
Total days with snow 2, including 1 with hail.
Accumulated snowfall 0.7 cm, normal 8.6 cm.
Other Statistics
Days mostly or partly sunny and dry 13, normal 10.
Days with mixed weather 6.
Total days mostly or partly sunny (including mixed weather days) 19.
On Thetis Island, Keith Rush recorded 91.8 mm of precipitation at his Foster Point Road residence. That’s slightly below the total from February 2023 of 108.4 mm. The average February on Thetis yields 102.5 mm of precipitation.
With March underway, it’s started off cool and unsettled with various accumulations of snow depending on location on eastern Vancouver Island.
“However, as we get further into the month, it’s expected that near normal temperatures and precipitation will dominate,” Carss indicated.