December in the Cariboo will likely be remembered as much colder than normal, and the numbers back that up.
Alyssa Charboneau is a Meteorologist with Environment Canada.
“The average temperature for Quesnel was -12.6, which compared to a normal average temperature of -5.9 was quite a bit colder. However, it only ranked as the 14th coldest month on record. Those records go back to 1898. For Williams Lake, the average temperature for the month was -11.6 degrees celsius. Normal would be -7.3, so once again much colder than normal. Williams Lake ranked as the 12th coldest month on record, with temperature records there going back to 1961.”
Charbonneau says the coldest months on record were -15.7 in 1900 for Quesnel, and -15.4 in Williams Lake in December of 1997.
She says while there were several daily record low temperatures set last month, we didn’t hit the overall low.
“Quesnel got down to -38.6 degrees one day. Williams Lake got down to -36.1. For Williams Lake the all-time coldest temperature recorded was -42.8. (Dec 29, 1968)
Charbonneau says the coldest December temperature on record for Quesnel was -41.1 degrees from December 30, 1968.
She says the coldest temperature on record for Quesnel in any month is -46.7 degrees, set on January 17, 1950.