Warm January temperatures far from coldest on record

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Today is the 69th anniversary of the fourth day of a five-day cold spell which produced the coldest ever temperature on record at the local airport weather station.

In 1947, the low temperature in Fort St. John was posted on Jan. 30 as -47.2 degrees, and beginning the previous day that year, the airport station recorded five consecutive lows of -40 or colder.

However, to illustrate just how dramatically the weather can vary in this area: 46 years later in 1993, high temperatures, that were more than 50 degrees warmer than the lows recorded during aforementioned 1947 period, were posted on exactly the same five days.

In addition, ironically, the warmest of those five days in 1993 — with a high of 11.6 degrees — was the coldest one in 1947. Thus, the 46 year Jan. 30 low/high temperature differential, was 58.8 degrees.

This year, as we pass through an El Nino-driven anniversary of that period, we’ve finished January far closer to where we were in 1993, than in 1947.

Minus the Sunday post, Environment Canada had the mean temperature last month in Fort St. John at -10.5, about two degrees warmer than the local area norm, but about one and half degrees colder than in January last year.

As for the warmest January on record, that occurred in 2001, when -2.6 was the mean temperature.

Still the airport station posted nine days in January this year with a high temperature above zero, including six in a row during the past week, right in line with the weather bureau’s El Nino winter prediction, which meteorologist Matt MacDonald says is still very much in play.