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October weather stays true to form in Chemainus

One 24-hour period the only difference with considerable rainfall pushing up the monthly total
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Chemainus weather observer Chris Carss.

October 2017 in Chemainus could be characterized as normal, but there’s always a few anomalies.

“October 2017 went pretty much as predicted on these pages about four weeks ago,” noted Chemainus weather observer and Courier columnist Chris Carss. “The month started off mild and mostly dry, then turned cool and wet near the middle of the month. Dry, mild weather returned for the last nine days of October.”

A total of 15 days were mostly sunny, Carss added. That’s three more than the normal of 12.

From the remaining 16 cloudy days, a total of 14 produced measurable rain, very close to the normal of 15.

The total rainfall for the month was 153.9 millimetres. That’s about 20 mm more than the normal of 133.6 mm, according to Carss.

Nearly half of the rainfall occurred during a 24-hour period from the early morning of Oct. 18 to early morning of the 19th. A total of 73.6 mm fell, making it one of the largest downpours of rain ever for the month, but just shy of the all-time 24-hour October record of 83.0 mm set back in 2003.

Temperatures for October featured a mean maximum of 14.7 Celsius and a mean minimum of 7.0 C. Both were close to the respective normals of 14.1 C and 7.4 C.

The extreme maximum of 18.5 C occurred on back-to-back days, Oct. 4 and 5. The extreme minimum of 4.0 C was on Oct. 11.

Things changed dramatically as the calendar flipped over to November.

“The first few days of November offered an early taste of January with just over 20 mm of rain and just under two centimetres of snow, most of which melted quickly on the ground leaving less than one cm accumulation for a couple of days in most areas,” Carss indicated.

“The November-to-January wet season is now gearing up with measurable amounts of rain expected on about two days out of three for most of the month. Daytime highs should range from about 5 to 9 C most days, with overnight lows running about two degrees either side of freezing.”



Don Bodger

About the Author: Don Bodger

I've been a part of the newspaper industry since 1980 when I began on a part-time basis covering sports for the Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle.
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