2006 YWG summer temps

Here are some temperature stats on our past summer in Winnipeg.. As a whole, the summer of 2006 (JJA) tied the summers of 1919, 1921 and 1936 as the 10th warmest summer on record (mean temperatures based on 1873-2006)  

 

        YEAR       JUN          JUL        AUG       SUMMER MEAN

 

1988	22.0	21.0	20.1	21.0
1983	17.1	22.2	22.5	20.6
1961	19.5	20.2	21.6	20.4
1955	17.5	21.7	21.3	20.2
1930	17.9	21.6	20.9	20.1
1963	19.0	21.8	19.6	20.1
1933	19.9	20.6	19.3	19.9
1995	20.2	19.6	20.0	19.9
1991	19.0	19.7	20.9	19.9
1919	20.0	20.6	18.9	19.8
1921	20.0	21.5	18.0	19.8
2006	18.2	21.5	19.8	19.8
1936	16.0	24.2	19.1	19.8

However, if we look at daytime high temperatures, this past summer was actually the 4^th warmest based on mean maximums.

	JUN	JUL	AUG	SUM_MAX_AVG
1988	29.4	28.0	27.0	28.1
1961	27.5	26.3	29.5	27.8
1894	27.9	27.4	26.9	27.4
2006	25.2	29.8	27.0	27.3
1983	23.3	28.1	29.7	27.0
1878	26.2	27.9	26.9	27.0
1936	22.7	31.4	26.3	26.8
1886	25.1	29.1	25.8	26.7
1910	27.8	27.8	24.3	26.6
1933	26.4	27.3	26.2	26.6
1995	27.1	25.9	26.8	26.6
1930	23.8	27.8	27.9	26.5

 

This shows that although this summer was quite warm during the day, nighttime temperatures were relatively cool and comfortable, with a noticeable lack of humidity.  This relegated the overall mean temperature of the summer to “only” 10th place.  This fits nicely with the overall dryness of the summer, which allowed for greater heating during the day, and sufficient cooling at night, almost like a desert climate.

 

A look at summer mean temperatures since 1873 shows that overall summer temperatures peaked in the late 1930s (after the hot dust bowl years) and again in the early 60s.  Since then, our summer temperatures have been fairly flat with no real warming or cooling trends.  One thing that is more evident however these past 25 years is the variability of our summers.. there seems to be wider swings in our summer weather year after year compared to before. For example, our record dry summer this year comes after one of our wettest summers last year, which came after the coldest summer on record in 2004, which came after a warm dry summer in 2003.  In addition Winnipeg’s two warmest summers and two coldest summers since 1873 have all been recorded within the past 25 years.  This lends some credence to the climate change theory that supports a more extreme and variable climate.