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TOP NL WEATHER STORIES OF 2013

December 31, 2013 2:32 PM

Hey Folks,

Happy New Year!
It's hard to believe yet another year as come and gone. 2013 was yet another memorable year for Weather in NL. Here are some of the top stories of year....

MASSIVE JANUARY BLIZZARD

50+ cm Storm shutdown most of St. John's back on January 11th . Courtesy: Adam Walsh

Following a quiet December and early January, Winter began with a huge bang in Eastern Newfoundland. One of the biggest Winter Storms in years pounded St. John's & Eastern Newfoundland with 50-90 cm of Snow and Wind Gusts 100-140 km/h. It took days and days to dig out. The pictures and video will be shown for years to come.

You can check out just a few of those pics & video here, with my Storm recap from last January.

A MONTH OF WINTER MADNESS

Picture from Rose Blanche, NL February 2013.

That January 11th blizzard really was the kick off to an extremely active run across the Province and in particular the Island. System after system shot through from mid-January through mid-February. In all, we had 12 Storms or noteworthy systems in about a month. In case you've already blocked that from your memory... here's my recap.

ANOTHER GREAT SUMMER IN NL

Relaxing Yoga on Deer Lake Beach this Summer. Courtesy of Carmelita Greene-Morgan.

You voted here on the blog back in the fall, and the majority of you agreed that this past Summer didn't quite match up with the amazing Summer of 2012. Having said that, this Summer was nothing to sneeze at. Plenty of 20+ days and rain free days, meant a nice Summer for most of NL.

Here's my Summer 2012 vs Summer 2013 breakdown with all the numbers.

HEAT & RECORD HUMIDITY FOR ST. JOHN'S

It was another great Summer for St. John's in particular. We had plenty of 20+ & 25+ days and we recorded our 2nd hottest day on record back in July, which was the hottest day for YYT in 17 years! It was also a very humid Summer. The record of 163 hours with a sticky dewpoint of 20+ smashed the previous record of 101 from the Summer before.

LABRADOR FOREST FIRES

This forest fire prompted the evacuation of nearby cabins. Courtesy: Chris Ensing

One of the warmest & driest June's on record, may be best remembered because of all the trouble it caused. Forest fires near Labrador City & Wabush prompted evacuations and the towns were on edge for weeks. The air quality in the towns was extremely poor.

It wasn't just Labrador which was dealing with the fires. Forest fires in Quebec were also burning and the skies above Newfoundland were smoke filled for a few days in early July.

NO TROPICAL STORMS FOR NL

2013 was forecast to be another busy season with an above average number of tropical storms and hurricanes. However we finished with only 13 named storms and just 2 hurricanes in the Atlantic, the lowest hurricane total since 1982. Even the 2 hurricanes that did form, just briefly reached category one strength. Overall when looking at the strength & duration of storms & hurricanes in the Atlantic, this year ranks as the sixth least active season since 1950.
Here in Newfoundland, it was the first time since 2004 that a Hurricane, Tropical Storm or Post Tropical storm did not make landfall in NL.
Exceptionally dry & stable air coupled with strong wind shear over the Tropical Atlantic were the main inhibitors of storm development and strengthening.

OLD MAN WINTERS RECENT BLAST

"Snow eats Smart Car". Coutesty: Linda Davis of Port Blanford

During its first few days, it seemed this December might just be like the last few... quiet. However the 2nd half of the month was anything but. Storm after storm dropped snow, snow and more snow. In the end Snowfall amounts were over 100 cm for most across the Island and as rcbstormpost posting this morning... we are finishing December with record snow depths as of the 31st...
St. John's: 66 cm on the ground.
Gander: 100 cm on the ground.
Deer Lake: 91 cm on the ground.
Stephenville: 137 cm on the ground.

We also had the COLDEST December in many many years.

-Labrador City December Average Temperature was -24.2. That's your coldest December in over 40 years! (26.2 in 1972)

-Gander also had its coldest December in over 40 years! Average temperature was just -7.0. Coldest December temperatures since 1972 (-10.1)
-Happy Valley-Goose Bay December average temperature was just -17.5, which makes it the coldest December in 22 years. (-18.1 in 1991)

-Deer Lake December average temperature was just -8.0, making it the coldest December there since 1991. (-9.4)

-St. John's had a chilly December too. Average temperature was just -4.0 making it the coldest December in 24 years!!! (-4.9 in 1989)

Ok, it's time for you to vote...

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