Peter Finlayson, Ormstown Weatherman
The first significant thaw of the winter descended on the Valley this past week, shrinking the snowpack by a third and melting a lot of the accumulated ice and snow from sidewalks and rooftops.
The average temperature rose by almost three degrees, warming from -9.1° C to -6.5° C. The normal for February is -8.0° C. The week ended with a massive 22° C swing back into the deep freeze, with the temperature dropping from +6° C on Saturday afternoon to -16° C by midnight.
The yo-yo weather will continue into the next week with below average temperatures in the -20° C range at the beginning, punctuated mid-week with a daytime forecast high of +8° C before plunging back down to sub-zero temperatures for the rest of the week.
There was very little moisture during the past week; only 4 mm of precipitation made up of 3.5 mm of rain and 0.5 cm of snow, bringing the month’s total-to-date to 34 mm of precipitation which, like January, is below normal.
There’s rain and perhaps some snow in the forecast for the end of the week when the temperatures increase for a couple of days, but that’s about it in the February forecast for the rest of the month.