If There Had Been No March This Yeawr

we wouldn't have fallen to -30C at all. Okay, don't quote me on that. I don't actually record the daily low temps, so I could be off a little, but I'm thinking that while we'd flirted with -30C on occasion, we'd never actually dropped that low until these past few days. (The thermometer on the right is a visual aid for those who need a little help converting C to F.)

Up until now, we've had a mild winter. We haven't had any snow to speak of either--at least any snow that required shovelling--until last week.

I suppose I shouldn't complain. The year I was pregnant with my oldest son, who was born in March, the thermometer never went above -30C for the whole month of February. We had an earthquake, too. You could get a certificate saying you survived February, 1979. Now there's a month worth complaining about.

And I have to admit, -30C is better than tornadoes and wildfires.

But I'm going to complain about this month anyway. Last year, on March 12, it was 10C. I was probably sitting on my deck for part of the day. This year, I'm still plugging my car in.

Update 1: StatGuy tried to cheer me up with the good news that it would be -21C this afternoon. What he neglected to point out is that there would be just a wee bit of a wind chill--about -30C worth or so.

He also linked to a 75 page pdf file full of--What else?--stats, including some weather statistics. The coldest temp for March in Whitehorse? -40.62, back in good old 1972. Warmest March day? 11.7C in 1979.

So when the oldtimers tell us it's just not as cold as it used to be, they might be right. What they're neglecting to tell us is that it's just not as warm as it used to be, either.

Update 2: Kevin has more on Yukon cold.... with pizza in Old Crow.

Related Tags: weather, temperature, Whitehorse