Climate Trends and Variations Bulletin for Canada

Winter 2000/2001 Temperature and Precipitation in Historical Perspective

National Overview

For most Canadians, the winter of 2000/01 (December 2000, January 2001, and February 2001) will be remembered as a real Canadian winter. So it might be surprising to some, that this winter's temperatures were above normal for the country. In fact, Canada, as a whole, experienced its 14th warmest winter, since comparable nationwide records began in 1948, at 1.3°C above normal, based on preliminary data. The map below helps to explain this apparent contradiction. Most of the "warmth" is in the less populated north-west area of the country, whereas, the southern, more populous areas of the country were at or below normal. The national warmest/coolest temperature table* lists the ten warmest and coolest winters for the entire country, showing the warmest winter was 1986/87 (+3.0°C), and 1971/72 (-3.2°C) was the coolest. The number of consecutive seasons of above-normal temperatures is 15 (summer 1997 through winter 2000/01), as shown in the consecutive seasons graph. In the graph below, the red dashed line shows the winter temperatures have had a linear trend increase of 1.6°C over the 54-year period.

* for simplicity, when referring to a winter with a one year short form, the year in which that winter ends is the year used, e.g. Winter 2000/2001 is shortened to Winter 2001.

Temperature Trend Chart

Temperature Departures Map

As a whole, Canada had a dry winter this year. Winter 2000/01 was the 10th driest out of the 54-year period of record, 10.3% below normal, based of preliminary data. The driest winter was 1977/78 (-20.1%) , and the wettest winter was 1964/65 (+19.4%), as shown in the national precipitation wettest/driest table. It should be noted that "normal" precipitation in northern Canada is generally much less than it is in southern Canada, and hence a percent departure in the north represents much less difference in actual precipitation than the same percentage in the south. The national precipitation rankings are therefore often skewed by the northern departures and do not represent rankings for the volume of water falling on the country. The map below shows most of Canada was much drier than normal, especially in Alberta. Still, there were areas of Canada which had above-normal precipitation: the Arctic islands, northern Quebec, Newfoundland, and small areas of southern Ontario and Quebec. Below, the winter precipitation graph shows Canada has tended to have below-normal precipitation values since the early 1980's. However, the consecutive seasons graph shows the drier winters are the exception of late, with the other three seasons tending to have above-average precipitation.

Precipitation Trend Chart

Precipitation Departures Map

Regional Analysis

See what Environment Canada forecasts for the coming seasons.
Text report or numeric/graphic report of Great Lake water levels.
More information on La Niña can be found at the Canadian La Niña Bulletin.
Visit Environment Canada's Global Climate Change Website.
Other summarized climate information can be found at the Canadian Institute for Climate Studies.
The American's National Climate Data Center publishes a similar bulletin for the US and the Globe in Climate Perspectives report.

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