Despite some record breaking warm days and a surprise hail storm at the start of the month, the average temperature in Nanaimo was only slightly cooler than normal for the month of March. (File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

mild month of March

Cool, dry March for Nanaimo does little to ease drought concerns

Apr 2, 2024 | 4:32 PM

NANAIMO — Despite a few warm days, March was a bit cooler than normal temperature-wise for the mid-Island with the lack of precipitation continuing to cause concern.

Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor said last month was “a very interesting one”, starting a little cooler but ending on a warm note.

“Overall if we look at the month of March with the mean temperatures, it was actually cooler than normal in Nanaimo. The mean temperature we recorded in March of this year was 5.0 (degrees Celsius), a normal mean temperature is about 6.3.”

He said despite the fluctuations, several daily high-temperature records were set in Nanaimo last month.

March 16 reached 19.1, eclipsing the previous record of 18.3 from 1972.

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The following day, the temperature reached 19.0, smashing the previous record of 16.4 set in 2019, with records dating back to 1892.

The Nanaimo and Oceanside areas also saw less than half of the historical precipitation levels, further adding to the provincial drought situation.

Only 54 millimetres fell in Nanaimo for March, with the normal amount closer to 113.

However, the rain the mid-Island did get seemed to come down all at once, breaking a daily rainfall record on March 3 when 40 millimetres fell, up from 26.7 from 1960.

Nanaimo residents were surprised to see a true hail storm hit the mid-Island the evening of March 1, on the tail end of a cooler February. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Proctor said the El Nino weather cycle which dominated our weather through the fall and winter will begin to weaken heading into spring and into more seasonal conditions.

“As we move further into spring toward summer, a more typical, likely conditions are out there, but we do have a lot of moisture deficit still around much of the province. We need a lot of precipitation to overcome the shortcoming we’re seeing from a moisture point of view.”

From November 2023 to the end of March 2024, 815.3 millimetres of precipitation fell, only five per cent above the average for those months.

While Proctor said it’s difficult for any meteorologist to predict precipitation levels long-term, their current models don’t suggest any significant precipitation systems anytime soon.

“It’s a waning El Nino, so a continuation of the kinds of conditions we’ve been seeing but trending more towards more typical conditions as we move towards summer.”

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow