Monday 1 July 2013

June Ends a Cold 8-Month Trend


     With an average mean temperature of 17.6°C, June 2013 was 0.7°C above normal making it the first warmer than normal month since September 2012! It was also much drier than normal with an almost 20 mm deficit, making it the 5th consecutive drier than normal June. However, not the entire city saw these low amounts thanks to some localized heavy thunderstorm events at the end of the month. Charleswood saw an amazing monthly total of 152.7 mm! At my place in south St Vital, only 69.4 mm fell.

     Because temperatures weren't all that extraordinary, thunderstorms were the biggest story of the month for 2 different reasons. Our first thunderstorm of the year at the airport was on June 10, making it the second latest start to the thunderstorm season since these records began in 1953. The resulted 289-day streak without thunderstorms was the longest ever. However, Mother Nature sure made up for the loss in the second half of the month with several thunderstorm events in southern Manitoba.

     June 2013 thunderstorm chronicle


     Hail was the biggest story with Winnipeg's first storm, and severe storm of the year on June 10. Nickel sized hail pounded areas from the northwest to southeast ends of the city. The hail caused some minor damage, especially to gardens. The Jardin St. Léon Garden Centre on St. Mary's was hard hit.
     Wind gusts over 60 km/h were also recorded at the airport.
     Thunder with the storm was almost constant. From my point of view in south St Vital, the thunder was like rolling a ball on the floor for 30 minutes.
     10 mm of rain fell at The Forks with the storm, while not a drop fell in the southwest and extreme southern ends. Other rainfall amounts can be seen here.






     Quasi-stationary thunderstorms on June 20 created big flooding problems in western parts of Winnipeg. Sitting over the Charleswood, Tuxedo and Linden Woods area for more than an hour, it dumped up to 75 mm of rainfall. That's around 80% of the normal monthly total in just over 2 hours! Many roads and businesses, including Ikea, saw flooding.






     This photo from June 22 is of a stationary thunderstorm west of Portage la Prairie at sunset. Storms kept reforming in this area for several hours in the late afternoon and evening. As a result, in excess of 150 mm of rainfall fell according to radar estimates, but over a very localized zone.
     In addition, large complexes of thunderstorms pushed through southwestern Manitoba in the evening on June 21 and in the overnight June 22. Another round of storms pushed into the area on June 23. With both complexes, in excess of 100 mm of rain fell in some areas, including Brandon. Overland flooding and street flooding were a major problem. The town of Reston was hardest hit with as much as 150 mm of rainfall.




     On June 25, I issued the year's first moderate risk of severe thunderstorms and for good reason. Another round of severe storms packed a punch on all of southern Manitoba. Yet more flooding rains drenched southwestern Manitoba. Reston received an astonishing 104 mm of rain, following the nearly 150 mm of rainfall just a few days earlier. The storms in the area then organised into a squall line later in the evening and raced eastwards into the RRV. Frequent lightning, strong winds and drenching rains were the main stories. As much as 30 mm fell in southern parts of Winnipeg during the entire event.







     A gorgeous thunderstorm moved into Winnipeg from the west on the evening of June 26 as seen in the photo. It fizzled out as it entered the city and as a result only light showers fell with minimal accumulations.






     And finally, I would like to wish all my fellow canadians a very wonderful Canada Day!

41 comments:

  1. Oops forgot to add that the airport had 5 thunderstorm days in June... just below the 1981-2010 normal of 6 days.

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  2. I see E.C. has a risk of thunderstorms for us Tomorrow....Slight risk at this point and likely non-severe.

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    1. Looks very isolated at best at this point.

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  3. Perhaps a better chance for storms potentially severe later in the week....however dynamics don't look overly good for severe weather later this week mainly due to capping which looks like it will be a major issue but still a few days away in which things can change. We'll see.

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  4. Incredibly, humidex advisories issued in Alberta for tomorrow as humidex values are predicted to be near 40. This is the 2nd consecutive year that this has occurred there. May not seem unusual for us here in Manitoba, but it is in Alberta. Just like last year, once again tomorrow all-time humidex records will be challenged.

    Old all-time high humidex records:
    Edmonton 38.7 (Aug 2, 1965 AND July 9, 2012)
    Calgary 36.9 (July 13, 2002)

    *For comparison Winnipeg's all-time high humidex was 47.3 on July 25, 2007.

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  5. Up to 32°C here in south St Vital today.. but only 29°C and a bit at the airport.

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  6. JJ, do you think we may severe storms on Thursday in Winnipeg and the RRV?

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    1. Given the fact I'm surprised there's even severe storms today (even though they're just rain-producers), I'll say severe storms are possible on Thursday but not on a widespread scale.

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  7. Kinda strange too see YWG Airport down to 25C at this hour while everywhere else is about 4 or 5 degrees warmer. A cool bias at YWG Airport perhaps this evening. Clearly warmer than 25C at this point.

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  8. JJ, any particular reason that you may know of, as too why the temperature at YWG Airport is tanking so quickly this evening compared to all other areas in the province which are some 4 to 6 degrees warmer than the current 24C at YWG?


    I was just outside and it's clearly warmer than 24C here in the southeast of Winnipeg right now. My station here in Windsor Park currently reads 27.9C which translates into a reading of 28C.

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  9. Noticed temps at YWG have stabilized late this evening and more in line with most stations as of 11PM. Could have been a pool of cooler outflow air as a result of those thunderstorms that were affecting the interlake earlier this evening that caused the temperature to quickly drop earlier this evening at YWG.

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    1. Sorry for the slow response Anon..
      I think it's possible that an outflow from the storms may have caused it.. But although winds did change direction they sure weren't very strong. I'm not entirely sure about this one.

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  10. Gonna be another hot one today. Storms possible tomorrow but it looks like a better threat for severe weather on Friday. Slightly cooler over the weekend and early next week but then heat returns later next week by the look of things.

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  11. Boy, models sure like to speed things up....It now looks like the severe weather threat will be Tomorrow instead of Friday. More on this later today.

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    1. I'm actually surprised to hear that and I've heard that at other sources too. I was thinking tomorrow and Saturday are our best chances and never thought Friday would produce.

      Chance of severe storms in southeast/east Saskatchewan and southwest/west Manitoba this afternoon and evening. Threat pushes east into southern Manitoba tomorrow.

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  12. Wow,
    it's already 32 in Thompson and the forecast high is 31!

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  13. Looking back at yesterday in Alberta... all-time humidex records were just shattered! I've never seen this type of humidity there..
    A couple all-time humidex records broken yesterday:

    Edmonton 43.4 (old 38.7 on Aug 2, 1965 and July 9, 2012)
    Calgary 39.4 (old 36.9 on July 13, 2002)

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  14. Looks like not only tomorrow for severe storm potential but Saturday as well. More on the storms potential days of tomorrow and Saturday later today.

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  15. Looks like some weather stations in winnipeg might hit 34 today based on current obs.

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    1. 32.8°C here in south St Vital as of now.

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    2. I think i might be right, already 33.7 in Whyte ridge as of 3:00

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  16. Does anyone know the max temp in west richmond today or how to find it?

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    1. Maximum of 33.9°C in west Richmond according to a weather underground station which you can access here:
      http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IMANITOB67

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    2. thanks so much, so close to 34.

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  17. Across canada at 6:00 PM all of the citys say not avalible in the weather conditions box.What the heck?????? soryy about the bad spelling

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    1. EC's website is shutdown

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    2. Servers are back up but forecasts, warnings etc.. will take some time to load back up.

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  18. Not a night for that to happen with storms brewing. Looks severe storms are along the SSK/MB border from Swan River to Roblin

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  19. Strong storms in Saskatchewan will move into Manitoba tonight, but likely weaken as they do.
    Strong thunderstorms then possible tomorrow in southeastern Manitoba associated with the cold front. Low mid-level winds will make slow-moving storms a possibility as they could dump lots of rain in short periods of time wherever they form and train.

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  20. Thank you to all the participants in the poll for participating! I'll be closing the poll midday tomorrow then on August 1 we'll see how many winners we have. Will try thinking of another poll I could add, but I'm not too sure of what because there certainly isn't much in the weather right now that is major. I'll take suggestions as well.

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  21. There could be a thunderstorm here in Winnipeg in the morning.. but the storms to our west will weaken significantly before they reach us.

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  22. Looks like storms maybe severe in the RRV and Southeast MB if they fire up Thursday afternoon. Better chances for severe storms on Saturday as the air aloft will be cooler which will create some very unstable conditions. We may see decaying storms here in Winnipeg this morning but I wouldn't bet on it.

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  23. Daytime highs a little tough today because of the cloud cover. If we could get lots of sun by late morning and maintain it, 31 to 33°C can be easy today... Less hot the more cloud we have.

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  24. Interesting how EC's forecast is for mainly cloudy with 60% chance of showers and risk of a thunderstorm. Mainly Cloudy? Not a even a cloud in the sky right now. However bonus sunshine could potentially provide further fuel in terms of stronger storms with the cold front this afternoon. Still don't think there will be much severe weatherwise here today. Parameters aren't as good as they were out west yesterday. We'll see what happens.

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  25. Isolated severe storms are still possible later this afternoon and this evening as a weak trough moves in from western MB which combined with perhaps unexpected lengthy sunshine and daytime heating. Winds aloft are weak and shear is not that impressive though which may prevent storms from become severe. We'll see.

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    1. Yeah, I'm not too impressed about the potential for Winnipeg specifically but we'll see. Other than some isolated storms or showers, don't think anything will get too organised.

      Would have been nice if there was actually more wind aloft so that any storms that form to our west would actually move into our area.

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  26. Temperatures having trouble rising in parts of city including airport where it's only 28°C. 30.4°C here in south end.

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  27. Yeah, 30.5C here in the southeast in Windsor Park.

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    1. It's actually now officially a heat wave at my place in south St Vital.

      32.3°C Tuesday
      32.9°C Wednesday
      32.1°C so far today

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  28. Either E.C is way off or right. A few clouds is the forecast for tonight. Judging by the look of things think it's safe too say forget about thunderstorms for today at least for us here Winnipeg and RRV. I find absolutely incredible that, that same cold front produces storms in Alberta and SSK but not in MB. Same old same old.

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    1. It astonishes me how consistent that pattern has been.

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