Victoria sees one of the coldest Octobers on record

If you thought this October was colder than normal, you aren’t wrong.

Environment Canada meteorologist Armel Castellan said preliminary numbers show 8.5 C as the mean temperature average (average of the maximum and minimum temperatures) at the Victoria International Airport this month. This makes October the fourth coldest October on record, beating 1946. Records have been kept since 1941.

Third and second place is tied with a mean temperature average of 8.3 C in October 1984 and October 1972. The coldest October on record was 1949 with an average mean temperature of 8.1 C.

The month had two colder weeks, this past week and earlier this month. Daily temperature records were broken on Oct. 9 and 10. 

“Mostly clear skies and you don’t get that cloud that really acts as a blanket or insulator,” Castellan said.

“So when you have clear skies, particularly when the sun is weaker and absent for so many hours of the day, then you can radiate a lot of that heat away from the surface and that’s why we got those colder mornings.”

Castellan said during an average October, there are 3.3 days that drop below 2 C. This year, there have been eight mornings in Victoria that have gone below 2 C.

There was a storm in the middle of the month so there were 75 millimetres of rainfall, close to average. September saw more precipitation that October.

“September was early and active and then October was half active and very much inactive for those weeks where we got the colder clear skies,” Castellan said.

The final calculations for the month will be released after Thursday. Castellan said Nanaimo is expected to rank in the top 25 coldest Octobers on record. Comox was also colder than normal as was Campbell River.

“Interesting there [in Campbell River], the average mean temperature through til yesterday was 6.7 C and they typically see 8.6 C.”

Castellan said global temperatures are increasing due to climate change but climate change also leads to different weather extremes.

“We’re not immune to this warming trend to any stretch,” Castellan said.

“Inside all these changes are also some extremes that may actually be a part of the climate change story.”

Castellan said big hemispheric-scale patterns are allowing high-pressure ridges to form.

And for the remainder of the fall, Castellan said a warmer November is expected, closer to average.

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