Temperature & Precipitation in Historical Perspective
Summer 2002
National Temperature
After a cooler than normal spring, temperatures across most of Canada returned to above normal for the summer (June, July, and August) of 2002. As a whole, Canada experienced its 19th warmest summer (since nationwide record began in 1948) at 0.5°C above normal, based on preliminary data. The map to the right shows that the warmth was neither extreme nor covered all of the country. From southern British Columbia, through to the western edge of Quebec, and up into Nunavut, temperatures ranged anywhere from a half a degree to a degree and a half above normal. The Yukon, northwestern Northwest Territories, and a small area around the mouth of the St. Lawrence River were the only areas that experienced a cooler than normal summer. The consecutive seasons table shows that 20 of the last 21 seasons have had temperatures above normal.
The graph to the left shows how this summer compares to the previous summers. Outside of the record year in 1998, most of the recent summers have been similar to this summer in terms of mean temperature. The red dashed line shows temperatures have increased by about 0.7°C over the last 55 years. The national warmest/coolest temperature table lists the ten coolest and warmest summers for the entire country, which shows the warmest summer was 1998 at +1.8°C, and the coolest was 1968 at -0.8°C. The national temperature departures table shows the full list of years in the order from warmest to coolest.
National Precipitation
As usual, the Canadian precipitation picture is complex, but as a whole, Canada had a wetter than normal summer. Summer 2002 was the 13th wettest out of the 55-year period of record, 7.3% above normal, based on preliminary data. The map to the right shows that most of the above normal precipitation was found in Nunavut, Northwest Territories and in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. However, a large stretch of the country from British Columbia through the Maritimes had drier than normal conditions. In some areas, like southern Ontario, the rain came in June, then almost nothing for the rest of the summer.
It should be noted that "normal" precipitation in northern Canada is generally much less than it is in southern Canada, and hence a percent departure in the north represents much less difference in actual precipitation than the same percentage in the south. The national precipitation rankings are therefore often skewed by the northern departures and do not represent rankings for the volume of water falling on the country.
The wettest summer was 1984 (+14.6%), and the driest summer was in 1958 (-14.3%), as shown in the national precipitation wettest/driest table. The national precipitation departures table shows the full list of years in the order from wettest to driest. The wetter than normal summer, nationally, is in keeping with most of the summers since the 1970's. Only four of the last 30 summers have been below normal, as shown in the graph to the left. Canada has now had two seasons in a row with greater than normal precipitation, as shown in the consecutive seasons graph.
Continue to the Regional Analysis...
Created : 2002 02 28
Modified : not specified
Url of this page : http://www.msc.ec.gc.ca/ccrm/bulletin/national_e.cfm
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Canada
The winter of 2005/2006 has been the warmest winter in Canada since the beginning of the nationwide weather record in 1948, with average nationwide temperatures 3.9°C above the long-term average. Statistically, such a strong deviation from the average is expected to be observed only once in 100 years. 

While most of the country was experiencing temperatures of at least 2°C above normal, in most of Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories the temperatures were 6°C above normal, with some regions averaging up to 8°C above normal.

For this statistic the months from December through February were counted as winter.

Lack of ice in eastern Canada will probably affect the annual harp seal hunt, which typically starts around March 15.  In February, so little ice had formed that Environment Canada reported that such poor ice conditions had never been seen before in recorded history. The last time conditions approached what we saw in February 2006 was in 1969. The year 1981 was the third lowest ice year in recorded history.

In 1981, a number of harp seal mothers, who normally whelp only on ice, went to the shores of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia and gave birth on land. That year, due to the lack of ice, hundreds of thousands of seal pups drowned. The seals who were born on land faced both natural dangers such as death by exposure, and the danger of death at the hands of thousands of sealers, both licensed and unlicensed. These sealers took this rare "opportunity" to walk right up to a baby seal and kill it. Some of these seals were also attacked by domestic dogs.