The average temperature in Waterloo Region last year was the fourth-warmest on record, according to University of Waterloo’s Frank Seglenieks.
In his yearly update, the E.D. Soulis Memorial Weather Station coordinator says that the average daily temperature in the area in 2023 came in at 8.86 C.
Average temperatures have been tracked in the area for over 100 years, with the hottest average temperatures occurring over the past 30.
The hottest year occurred back in 2012, with an average temperature of 9.32 C while number two and three were 1998 at 8.98 C and 2021 at 8.89 C.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the year started off warm and stayed that way for most of the first four months of 2023.
“The year started off very warm with the January coming in as the fourth warmest and February the sixth warmest,” Seglenieks wrote. “March was then close to average, before another warm month in April. That month the temperature reached 26.0°C or more for 5 straight days, this was the first streak that long during April.”
Things remained average for the next few months until August arrived with the average temperature being 1.3 degrees below average.
Seglenieks said it was the coolest August the region has experienced since 2008.
The months that followed sAW above average temperatures, aside from November, where things cooled off again.
Given the heat, it might surprise some to learn that it was also a wet year in the area.
Seglenieks saud that the region saw 958.8 mm of precipitation last year, which is above the average of 869.6 mm.
While there was plenty of rain, there was not plenty of snow last winter.
“The total snowfall for the 2022-23 season was a total of 119.5 cm, which was well below the average of 159.7 cm,” Seglenieks wrote.
“The first few months of the next snowfall season has started slowly with only 10 cm total in November and December compared to the average of 26 cm by the end of the year.”