Weatherboxes from Past Years

Vancouver's snowiest year in the airport era (1937-present). Nearly all the snow in Jan fell in just five days! 

^That is how I used to think an average snowfall in Vancouver would be 

boombo

Dear god that is terrible.

I like how that March probably got everybody's hopes up of an early spring and nice summer. 

Very cruel.

Didn't Aboyne have a warmer March than summer that year? I remember reading something crazy like that. That is a truly terrible climate box, except for March.

69 sunshine hours in July. Here is the proof there can't be a God who loves us snj90

I intend to start summing the 2010's up - especially for Northern Europe - slowly but surely during this year.

My first installment as well as my first post back here is Saint Petersburg and its years between 2010 and 2018. From a perspective of having lived on the other side of the same sea during this timeframe this was rather interesting. Evidently a lot is very similar when it comes to deviations from normals, but with some major exceptions. Another part about Saint Petersburg's climate is that it shares a similar UHI to Stockholm, but is more continental. As a result, its peak summers have a lot in common with Stockholm, whereas its peak winters are more similar to Umeå (with milder lows) than to where I live. So, either way here we go:

2010 saw a really cold January and Saint Petersburg fell beneath -10°C average highs for the only time this decade. It being quite a bild colder than Sweden was reversed in summer during the strong Russian heat wave that also affected the Baltic Sea portions of the Nordics, with an unbelieveable 29/20 month, which is as clear of a Baltic Sea coastal record for a hot month as you'll get. Early August then hit 37.1°C, which is a new record for the city. July also set a monthly heat record that year with the 35.3°C reading. December was below average, but not as far below as in Sweden.



2011 saw a very cold February, including the coldest temperature measured (so far) this decade with -26.8°C and -11.1°C means that were not far below January 2010 at all. This was a bit colder related to averages than on similar Swedish latitudes and also was extended into a delayed spring with March remaining a winter month. Then, the tide really turned in summer, which was way warmer than Stockholm was in that year.



2012 was also more continental than the average, with February being colder than December, unlike in the Baltic Sea regions of Sweden. In an otherwise cool and rainy summer, July was warmer than the 1981-2010 normals.



2013 was another of those rather intriguing years. Winter got extended to last all the way through March, being clearly below average, before a front-loaded summer emerged, peaking in a June straddling 20°C means, before the extensive rainfall of July prevented the heat potential from reaching 2011 levels.



2014 had great similarities to what I experienced in Örebro that year, with a stable but cold January, remarkable low February diurnals that looked similar to Umeå that year! Then May had some heat bursts, this obviously way stronger than anything recorded in Sweden, but averages remained similar. June was below average, but just as summer seemed to go away, July ultimately saw a heat-wave being formed. This resulted in 26/17 averages, impressive for the latitude, but nothing like 2010. Autumn cooled down faster related to normals than here, but December then ended up being mild. Also notable, four months managed to get above 31.4°C (88.5°F) on a coastline right on 60°N!



2015 was pretty much as close as one will get to a year without seasons possible on that latitude on a large landmass like Russia is. Only one month recorded lows below -4°C and summer was cool and largely uneventful, aside from August and September ending up above average. Similar to Scandinavia and Britain, December was then dominated by the mild spell that resulted in a Russian location at 60°N having December average lows above freezing!



2016 saw that infamous bipolar January being taken to new heights, with cold air being firmly parked for three weeks, before milder Atlantic air rolled in. This ultimately saw the month turn less severe than January 2010, against all odds, considering how it had started. The ultimate cold temperatures didn't match February 2012 either. Summer was flat, similar to the typical Baltic Sea climate that year, but with a stronger temperature drop come September. The intensive rainfall in July and August are also notable, since 2016 was a record dry year in my region of Sweden, not that far away.



2017 was a year that can't have been that memorable. Unlike here, there wasn't even a trace of milder warmth in summer and no month went above 21°C, which is unique for this decade, so far. Winter saw low diurnals, but at least a couple of cold snaps. April saw some strong seasonal lag, being below 6°C in highs, something that would be very hard to imagine in contemporary times on the west side of said sea.



Finally, 2018 wasn't as spectacular as Fennoscandia. The most notable part was that four months were below -3°C in means and that May reached a 20°C average high. That being said, summer warmth was moderate, rather than a strong heat wave. August was quite a bit above averages though and the 27°C September reading is quite warm for its latitude.



I hope it was interesting. Any suggestions on other Northern European cities found on either Météo Climat or SMHI are of course welcome!