Everyone has been talking about the weather these days.
It certainly seems like this winter is a lot worse than usual. Wind chill warnings, extremely cold temperatures and weather warnings and watches are practically a daily occurrence.
Comparing this year to last year in Waterloo Region may be one of the reasons for people complaining about the weather this January.
Although the temperatures certainly feel colder, the winds have definitely played a big part in making it feel colder.
Wind chills have been extreme. So far in the month of January, there have only been five days when the wind didn’t gust up to at least 35 km/h in the Region.
As far as temperatures are concerned, it isn’t your imagination, it has been colder.
During the month of January, 2013 the average high temperature was 0.3 C. This year, the average high so far this month has been -5.3 C.
So far this month, there have been only five days when temperatures rose above zero. Last year there were thirteen daytime highs above the freezing mark.
In fact, there were actually three days last January when the temperature went above 10 C. Any snow that fell last year melted away in a few days.
Last year, the average night-time low was -8.3 C, this year it's -14.1 C. There have been sixteen days this month when the temperature dropped below -15 C, while there were only five in 2013.
So, in Waterloo Region, daytime highs are around five degrees colder on average, and nighttime lows are about six degrees colder than last January.
Combine the colder temperatures with the almost constant windy conditions, and perhaps there is a reason people are complaining about the weather.
Note: the information used in this year-to-year comparison was taken from the Environment Canada website
