Winter finally arrived in the past week with some seasonably cold temperatures where the daytime high stayed below freezing, and we had a decent snowfall!
The average temperature for the past week was -2.3 degrees Celsius, a full degree colder than the week before but still way above the normal of -8.0 C. If the trend continues, the winter of 2023-2024 (November to March) will be the warmest in the last 57 years since records started being kept at the farm in Ormstown.
The last week of February and the first two weeks of March are forecast to be warmer than normal, which speaks to the early start to the maple syrup season.
The snowfall during the night of February 15-16 brought 17 centimetres of very light and fluffy snow to cover the Valley from end to end. The snow melted down to 12 millimetres of water, bringing the total precipitation for the month to 14 mm, which is two-thirds less than normal.