Climate Trends and Variations Bulletin

Annual 2005

Regional Temperature 

Only the Prairies Region (11th warmest , +1.2°C) wasn't warm enough in 2005 to be ranked among the ten warmest years out of the 58 years of record. Of the ten other regions that were among the warmest, North B.C. Mountains/Yukon tied for its warmest year with 1981 experiencing temperatures 2.8°C above normal. The other top ten finishers were: Arctic Mountains and Fiords (2nd warmest, +2.0°C); Pacific Coast (5th warmest, +1.2°C); Northwestern Forest (6th warmest, +2.0°C); Arctic Tundra (6th warmest, +1.7°C); Northeastern Forest (6th warmest, +1.4°C); Mackenzie District (7th warmest, +2.1°C); Atlantic Canada (7th warmest, +0.9°C); South B.C. Mountains (8th warmest, +1.1°C); and Great Lakes/St. Lawrence (9th warmest, +1.1°C). Listed in the ten coolest years table is a listing of the coolest years for each of the climate regions. A listing of all the regional temperatures departures and rankings are in the annual regional temperatures table. The trends, extremes and current year rankings table shows that all 11 climate regions show a positive annual temperature trend, with the North B.C. Mountains/Yukon region showing the greatest warming of 2.2°C, and Atlantic Canada showing the least of 0.1°C over the 58-year period.

Regional Precipitation

Six climate regions experienced wet enough years to rank among the ten wettest years: Arctic Tundra (2nd wettest, +23.1%); Northwestern Forest (2nd wettest, +12.8%); Arctic Mountains and Fiords (5th wettest, +32.0%); Mackenzie District (5th wettest, +19.9%); North B.C. Mountains/Yukon (5th wettest; +19.1%); Prairies (7th wettest, +18.2%). It is of interest to note that none of the regions individually experenced their wettest year, however collectively they produced the wettest year on record, which shows just how wide spread the wetness was this past year. None of the regions were dry enough to rank among the ten driest years, however three regions, South B.C. Mountains (-3.8%); Pacific Coast (-5.5%); and Great Lakes/St. Lawrence (-3.5%) were only slightly drier than normal. All of the climate regions and their rankings for 2005 relative to the last 58 years, are listed in the ranked regional precipitation table. Interestingly, the Pacific Coast Region has not had a wetter than normal year since 1999. A summary of this past year's precipitation rankings for each region, along with the record driest and wettest years, are listed in the extremes and current year rankings table.

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