February continued trend of frigid temperatures 

Mike Lawrence - Staff Writer

This winter continued its trend of bringing both frigid temperatures and significant snowfall amounts to the area through the month of February. While we didn’t break any records, according to Environment Canada Meteorologist Gerald Cheng we did come close a few times. 
Cheng explained, “First I want to start off that according to Sioux Lookout Airport weather station it is the fourth coldest February since record keeping began in 1938. The average mean temperature of February was -21.4, but the record was -22.3 set back in 2015.” Cheng added that the other two coldest Februarys on record were in 1967 and 1939.
While these temperatures combined both daytime highs and nighttime lows to reach those average mean temperatures, looking at just the average night-time temperatures tell another story.
As Cheng describes, “If I take into the account just the night-time lows, or the minimum temperature, if I average them out for the month of February it’s actually the second coldest February on record. The average February night-time temperature of February was -29.3. The record was in 1967 when they had a colder average minimum temperature which was -30.6.”
Cheng continued, “If I look at precipitation, looking at all the years, in millimeters, February 2022 was ranked fourth at 54.2 mm, with the record precipitation amount being set back in 2019, at 75.2.”
Cheng added “2020 and 2021 were within the top five driest Februarys on record, with the two Sioux Lookout Airport stations reporting. One reported 0 mm, the other reported 0.2 mm for 2021, and 0.1 mm and 0.2 mm were reported for 2020.”
For those looking ahead to warmer weather, Cheng offered, “There’s still a cold signal for March, April and May. If I look into April and May I become less confident of those numbers, but when I look at the next four weeks it’s still going to be on the colder side.”