Weather extremes average out in Environment Canada assessment of November

Dec 1, 2017 | 1:56 PM

KAMLOOPS — It was a month of extreme high and low temperatures in Kamloops, but in the end, the weather ended up being fairly average for November.

That from Environment Canada Meteorologist Doug Lundquist, who says the average temperature was 2.6 degrees C, a half a degree above average.

“It was interesting in that the beginning of the month was much colder than average and the end of the month was much warmer than average,” he says. “So, it ended up being pretty close to about average which goes to show you that average weather really doesn’t exist and it’s the back and forth that really matters.”

But Lundquist says November was drier than normal with 15 millimetres of precipitation, about 64 per cent of the average for the month.

He says November featured three records — two for low temperatures and one for an all-time high. The lows came on Nov. 3, when the temperature dipped to -12.8, and Nov. 4, when it dipped even further to -14.3. The high came on Nov. 26 when the temperature reached 15 degrees.

Looking ahead to the winter months of December, January and February, Lundquist says we may as well flip a coin to see how things will turn out.

“There are a lot of competing factors this year. We have a La Nina which tends to make our winters colder than average but climate change is making winters warmer in our area. So, there’s about a third of a chance it’ll be above average, a third it’ll be about average and about one third of a chance it’ll be below average for temperature.”