February continued with the warm trend that has so far marked the winter of 2024. The average temperature for the past week was -1.4°C, over six degrees above the normal of -8.0°C. This was mainly due to two very warm days on Friday and Saturday, February 9-10, when the thermometer registered +9.5°C in Ormstown and a record (for the date) of +10.7°C along the water in Saint-Anicet at the Environment Canada weather station.
Imagine, the record low for the same date was only four years ago, registering -32.9°C for the nighttime low.
The nighttime lows in the past week have also been much warmer than normal, with the result that the ice – what little there was – went out on the Chateauguay River on Saturday night. The average date for the ice to go out over the last 57 years since records started to be kept at the farm is sometime during the third week of March, so it’s a trifecta winter with no snow on the ground, no ice on the rivers and no frost in the ground.
There has been minimal precipitation so far this month with only 2 mm of rain having been recorded, which is well below normal.