Turn off accessible linear format and redisplay the web page in it's original layout. The Climate of Sable Island
Sable Island: Graveyard of the Atlantic
Situated 300 km east-southeast of Halifax are the crescent-shaped, shifting sand dunes of Sable Island. Home of the wild Sable Island ponies with the long, flowing manes and tails, it has also been a temporary home for shipwrecked sailors, enroute convicts, and pirates brought there inadvertently by the legendary gales that blow around the island. Sunken ships, the victims of these storms, litter the surrounding ocean floor, giving the island its reputation as "the graveyard of the Atlantic."
Sable's climate is influenced mainly by the sea. Ocean waters maintain winter air near freezing and keep summer temperatures below what would be considered room temperature in milder parts of the country. The average annual range is only 18.6C. This compares with Halifax International Airport's 24.3C and Winnipeg's 38.9C. Recorded temperatures have never gone lower than -1 9.4C (January 31, 1920) or higher than 27.8C (August 27, 1951). February is the coldest month and August is the warmest.
The ocean is also a prime source of moisture for cloud and precipitation. The yearly rain and snow total averages 1372 mm, of which only 9% is snowfall. The number of wet days almost equals the number of dry days. Even the driest months, July and September, receive 92 mm of precipitation each, while the wettest, December and January, both receive 145 mm. Snowfall and freezing precipitation totals and occurrences, however, are less than on the mainland.
Since the island is in the path of travelling frontal storms year-round and tropical cyclones in the summer and fall, most of its precipitation comes from large-scale storms. Thunderstorms are infrequent, with only 11 thunderstorm days a year, but hurricanes and tropical storms, such as George in 1950, Helene in 1958, and Evelyn in 1977, are notorious for the heavy rainfall they bring.
Lying near the track of these storms, Sable is sometimes battered by winds much stronger than those blowing on the mainland, and the treeless terrain offers little protection. Strong gales, waves, currents, and sea swell are constantly reshaping the island, eroding shoreline cliffs at one end and elongating the crescent shape at the other.
Although Sable is exposed to winds from all directions, they are mostly from the southwest during spring and summer and shift to a westerly direction during fall and winter. Wind speed records are impressive. The highest hourly speed observed is 130 km/h. The highest gust officially recorded is 174 km/h, although there is an unofficial report of a gust speed close to 190 km/h.
Adding to Sable's inhospitable weather label is its reputation as the foggiest place in the Maritimes. On average, 127 days a year have at least one hour of fog. In comparison, Summerside has fog on 37 days a year. Unfortunately, the sunniest and driest time--the summer--is also the time with the most fog. July has 22 fog days on average. In 1967 fog was present on 30 of 31 July days, and June of the same year recorded the longest duration of fog, 126 hours--more than five whole days of it.
The climate capsule that emerges for this bleak but fascinating island is stormy times, mild in winter, cold in summer, and humid and windy all year-round.
