For all its rain, heat and small amount of snow, December wasn't the record-breaking month for the Quebec region… but almost.
“We have almost reached a record set in 1949 in terms of low snowfall,” explains Michèle Fleury, a meteorologist for the environment and climate change in Canada.
The month of December 2023 will have had the second least snow in history. Environment Canada has been compiling weather statistics since 1943.
“We haven't reached the record yet, but we can say that it is quite significant historically in terms of the snow deficit.”
— Michèle Fleury, meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada
74 years ago, just 13.5 centimeters of snow fell in Quebec. Last December, around 14 centimeters were deposited on the ground.
“Significant” heat
Despite everything, the twelfth month of 2023 will not go down in history as the hottest of all.
In 2015, Quebec had a particularly mild month at the end of the year. This year, the region set its near-freezing heat record with an average temperature of -1 degrees Celsius.
And there was no break in 2023 either, although temperatures were almost 5 degrees warmer than usual. On average, the temperature in December was -3.8 degrees Celsius, while the normal value is -8.6 degrees.
“In view of a relatively warm month with little snow, it is still significant,” observes meteorologist Michèle Fleury, looking at Canadian data.
And whoever says heat says… rain.
In fact, more than double the normal amount of rain fell. However, the 76 millimeters of water received remains far from the record of 239 millimeters set in 1973 for the month of December.
It remains that the pre-holiday rain episode on December 18 broke the benchmark of 45.7 millimeters in one day that had been in effect since December 17, 2000.
New reality?
Will rain and heat become the new reality and finally replace snow? Not necessarily, answers Ms. Fleury.
For much of the fall, there was a “warm temperature anomaly across the country, making it difficult to recover for the start of winter,” t-She notes.
“Our cold air reservoir is located more in the center of the country, in the prairies,” explains the meteorologist. This is where the continental cold air mass forms. This year it wasn't cold enough in this location to provide us with an adequate supply of cold air.
So if records are broken in 2023, there will continue to be large temperature fluctuations in all years. “That doesn’t mean it will be like this every year or get worse and worse,” explains the expert.
Which winter is 2024?
However, the warm trend of recent months will continue for the rest of the winter, Environment Canada expects. Snow should still be visible.
“For the entire winter we can expect temperatures slightly above seasonal norms, but below zero most of the time. It should snow, but it is not impossible that there will be occasional mild spells,” predicts Michèle Fleury.