As most Vancouverites already know, June was unseasonably hot and dry this year, with the city (and much of the rest of the province) flirting with near-record high temperatures for much of the month.
But just how hot and dry was June compared to previous Junes in this city? Pretty darn hot and dry, as the chart below shows:
If you’re on a mobile device, here’s a static image of the chart (you can find an interactive version here):
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The chart shows that the mean temperature for June 2015 (17.9 degrees) was just a hair below the record high set in 1958 of 18.0 degrees. And while only 11mm of rain fell in June 2015, that’s not quite as dry as in 2009 (10.8mm), 1950 (4.6mm) or 1940 (5.3mm).
The chart above is based on data from Environment Canada’s Climate site, from which you can download monthly weather data for Vancouver International Airport going all the way back to 1937. Some other weather stations have data going back further than that, but most stories today usually refer to conditions at the airport, so that seemed like the best benchmark to use.
Also, a note for chart geeks: You’ll note the temperature chart above breaks the cardinal rule of “always starting a chart at zero”. I’d argue this is one of those rare cases where “zero doesn’t really mean zero” as temperature scales are arbitrary and can be negative.
Filed under: The Data Trail Tagged: data, Vancouver, weather Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
