It probably won’t surprise you to learn that December in the West Kootenay was colder than average.
According to a monthly summary of statistics provided by the Southeast Fire Centre weather office in Castlegar, the month was 2.6 degrees chillier than normal.
One daily record low temperature was tied on the 22nd when it got down to minus-20.8 degrees while two new daily mean temperatures were broken on the 19th and 22nd as a surge of Arctic air into the West Kootenay also brought strong and gusty winds.
The lowest temperature of the month was minus-21.4 before sunrise on the 23rd as partly clear skies and easing winds coincided with one of the longest nights of the year, allowing for more prolonged cooling.
Things shifted between the 23rd and 26th as things warmed up more than 20 degrees.
Total precipitation for the month was 98.4 millimeters, which was about nine per cent above normal.
A good portion of that, 20.4 mm, fell on Boxing Day, which forecaster Jesse Ellis calls “probably the greatest one-day rainfall event for this location in over a year.”
