December in Ottawa was mild, but not record-breaking

Published Jan 01, 2024 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 1 minute read

People didn’t have to contend with any snow when they were out doing last-minute errands and holiday shopping in Westboro on Saturday, Dec. 23 2023. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA

A green-grey Christmas, with little to no ice on the waterways, was a hallmark of a mild December, but Ottawa’s weather wasn’t record-breaking.

Gerald Cheng, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said the warmest December on record happened in 2015. Then, the average daytime high in the nation’s capital was around 4.3 C.

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Then, like now, was also in the middle of an El Niño, which is a weather episode marked by a change in air currents bringing more warm weather to the eastern region of North America.

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This year, though, average daytime highs hovered around 1 C. Typical daytime temperatures around this time of year are closer to -5, Cheng said, with an average daily maximum temperature of -1.9 C.

“It’s been milder than that,” he said in a recent interview. “Much, much milder.”

The mercury peaked around 6.6 C on Boxing Day, for example, “way above average daytime highs.”

Dec. 15 was one of the warmest days of the month, with temperatures climbing to 8.7 C.

But, Cheng added, a few days leading up to the holidays were more seasonal.

And while there was very little snow to speak of on Christmas itself, Ottawa did see some more classic winter weather. The capital recorded its longest consecutive snowfall during the first week in December, when it snowed for more than 55 hours straight. In total, the city has seen nearly 30 cm of snow, and 77.2 mm of precipitation in total, which is in line with typical averages.

“We live day to day, and sometimes only remember the recent past,” Cheng said. “But things have happened this December that were more wintery.”

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