Environment Canada reported dates in late December 2023 as the second warmest in its record books for several areas of the province. Locally, on Dec. 29 weather conditions reported from Sechelt airport were the warmest in B.C. at 14.6 C. That beat out previous record highs for that location and point in the year dating back to 2007 when the airport site began sending in weather condition reports.
The local airport’s December 2023 average high temperature was 9.2 C. There were only three dates in December where the mercury dipped below the freezing mark, with the lowest temperature experienced in the past 31 days, -1 C, recorded at that site on Dec. 24. The site’s monthly average low temperature was 4.2 C.
Comparing monthly results from that site to the three previous years, 2022 saw the most volatile temperature swings, with December's high at 13.2 C and low at -11.2 C. Sechelt’s average daily highs during that month were 4.2 C and lows averaged - 0.7.
December 2021 was the coldest of the past four years, the average December daily high temp was 3.8 C, and the average low was -1.7 C. Average December high temperatures in 2020 were 7.7 C, lows averaged at 2 C.
Rain but no snow
As for precipitation, 176.6 mm of rain (and no measurable snow) fell during the last month of 2023 at Sechelt’s airport. The rainiest day was Dec. 4, seeing 38.8 mm fall. The station recorded nine days last month with less than 1 mm of moisture falling, with the total precipitation accumulated higher than Environment Canada’s monthly average for the last month of the year of 127 mm.
Monthly precipitation recordings for the site in 2022 were 126mm. 91.2 mm fell in 2021 and 167mm in 2020.
