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Freaky frigid February: How last month set cold-weather records
The Canadian Press

This article was published more than 9 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

Between Ontario and Quebec deep freezes, the Maritime snowpocalypse, and British Columbia’s early spring, February was a month of extreme weather.

In general, temperatures across Quebec and Southern Ontario were seven to nine degrees colder than the historic averages.

(But how cold is it now? Check today’s forecast)

Ontario

Masses of ice build up around Niagara Falls. (Aaron Lynett/The Canadian Press)

Ottawa recorded its coldest-ever February, with an average temperature of -16.8 degrees, shattering the former record set in 1979.

In Toronto, it was the first February in 75 years where the temperature did not climb above the freezing mark.

(Reality check: Why Niagara Falls didn’t really freeze)

Quebec

Quebec experienced the coldest February since at least 1889 – for example, Montreal recorded an average temperature of -14.9, compared with an average of -8.5. Other parts of the province fared even worse, with Quebec City reporting a temperature of -17.8.

(Winter in Quebec: Montrealers cast a line into a classic winter tradition)

Atlantic Canada

Snow piles high on the Saint John sidewalk. (Dan Culberson for The Globe and Mail)

Many Maritimers spent most of the month digging out after record snowfalls. Both Halifax and Moncton recorded more than double the average amount of snow for the month.

Charlottetown was buried under more than seven feet of snow (222.8 cm), including nearly 90 cm in a single storm that hit PEI’s capital on Feb. 16.

(Dude, where’s my car? Snowfall buries vehicles, streets in PEI)

Why was this year different?

Pedestrians trudge through the snow in Charlottetown on Feb. 3. (John Morris/The Canadian Press)

Environment Canada meteorologist Maxime Desharnais says it was the persistent cold and wind that set this year apart. He said a jet stream of frigid air from the Northwest Territories kept a cold air mass trapped over parts of Ontario and Quebec for most of the month.

“The physics of the atmosphere just meant it took a long time to move,” he said.

(The big chill: Ice volcano in New York and the Great Frozen Lakes)

Meanwhile, in B.C. …

By comparison, residents of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland have had reason to gloat as they experienced weather that was comparatively springlike. The province as a whole was three to five degrees warmer than normal, which Desharnais said was “very significant.”

Vancouver recorded an average temperature of 7.5, with temperatures climbing to 14 on some days in February.

(Not so fast: Weather system prompts climate-change worries in B.C.)