February was rough and March won't be drastically better, climatologist says

After an unusually cold February, March will be "an improvementonly because the days are longer," a senior climatologist says.

This month has been the city's coldest Februaryin 25 years and has had the most snow 43.3 centimetres since 1961, according to Environment Canada's David Phillips, who analyzed Calgary's historicalweather data on Wednesday as February came to an end.

"There were times when Calgary was colder than the North Pole," Phillips told theCalgary Eyeopener. "It was really, yeah, the shortest month but it was long on weather."

Normal snowfall for February is 15 cm only a third of what the city receivedthis year.

And it was "bone-chilling" coldwith few breaks, Phillips said.

February had a daytime low of 18 C, when a normal February daytime low would be 11.4 C, his analysis found.

The overall average temperature hit 12 C, considerablychillier than the normal 5.4 C.

• February much colder than average in Calgary, says Environment Canada

A few days this past week featured temperatures rise above freezing. Those slightly warmer and snow-free days meant this month fell just short of the coldest and snowiest ever, he said.

'Be patient'

March 2018is expected to be moretypical, temperature-wise, or slightly cooler, Phillips said.

"Things are going to look up but it's going to be slow. You're going to have to be patient," he said.

March is typically about four degrees warmerthan February, with a few minutes of extra sunlight each day.

Snowy March

But it's also usually the snowiest month of the year for Calgary, typicallyamounting to about 40 per cent of the winter's snowfall.

"When it snows, it's heavier but it also goes faster," Phillips said. "Don't feel as though the world's coming to an end."

More snow may sound dismal after 73 consecutive days of snow covered backyards, so he said,take comfort inMarch's longer days and look ahead to an expected warm summer.

With files from theCalgary Eyeopener.

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