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An Environment and Climate Change Canada summary released Friday confirmed what the Rideau Canal and idle snowplowing services already knew — that Ottawa’s February 2024 was hotter and dryer than usual.
The summary, which considered all of Ontario, notes that above-normal mean temperatures across the province in February simply extended a winter-long trend, which began in December and continued through January.
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While Ottawa’s highs during February were on average 4.2 degrees C warmer than normal, in the southwest corner of Ontario near the Manitoba and U.S. borders, highs were as much as 7 degrees warmer than normal, the survey says.
In Ottawa, the usual mean temperature for February days, taking the years 1981 to 2010 into consideration, is -8.1 C. But last month, the mean was just -3.9 C.
The relatively balmy temperatures meant that the Rideau Canal Skateway was open for just 10 days last month. Its Feb. 25 closure marked the Skateway’s shortest season ever, apart from 2023 when it didn’t open at all.
Record-breaking high temperatures were logged Feb. 9 and 10, including a high of 18 C in Windsor. During a second abnormally warm stretch last month, the high in Windsor hit 21.4 C.
While the monthly normal snowfall for February in Ottawa is 43 centimetres, the figure for last month was just one-third of that — 15 cm. Much of that snow came during a Feb. 15 storm.
Southern Ontario experienced just one snow storm last month, on Feb. 15 and 16. At the end of February, snow depths at nearly all southern Ontario monitoring stations were below normal, by as much as 50 per cent.
Meanwhile, the ongoing thaw should eliminate much of what little snow remains. Environment Canada predicts highs of 10 C on Sunday, 15 C on Monday and 16 C on Tuesday.
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