Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification, the island has a cool summer Mediterranean climate due to its dry summers. Other climate classification systems, such as Trewartha, place it firmly in the Oceanic zone (Do). Cool and moist, the island averages 138 rainy days per year and seven days with snowfall greater than 0.2 centimetres (0.08 in). Days with high temperatures of 30 °C (86 °F) or higher are rare, averaging less than one per year. Days with temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) occur about 25 times per year. Winters are cool and wet with the average temperature in January being 3.7 °C (39 °F) and an average precipitation of 130 millimetres (5 in). Due to its mild winters, the average annual snowfall is low at 40 centimetres (16 in) during the season. Summers, on the other hand are dry and mild with a July average of 16.9 °C (62 °F) with only 26 millimetres (1 in) of precipitation.
| Climate data for Gabriola Island | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 14.5 (58.1) |
15.0 (59.0) |
20.5 (68.9) |
25.0 (77.0) |
31.0 (87.8) |
30.0 (86.0) |
32.0 (89.6) |
31.0 (87.8) |
30.0 (86.0) |
24.0 (75.2) |
18.0 (64.4) |
13.5 (56.3) |
32.0 (89.6) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 6.6 (43.9) |
7.7 (45.9) |
10.0 (50.0) |
13.0 (55.4) |
16.6 (61.9) |
19.3 (66.7) |
22.2 (72.0) |
22.3 (72.1) |
19.2 (66.6) |
13.4 (56.1) |
8.8 (47.8) |
6.0 (42.8) |
13.8 (56.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 3.7 (38.7) |
4.3 (39.7) |
6.1 (43.0) |
8.5 (47.3) |
11.7 (53.1) |
14.4 (57.9) |
16.9 (62.4) |
16.8 (62.2) |
13.8 (56.8) |
9.3 (48.7) |
5.6 (42.1) |
3.3 (37.9) |
9.5 (49.1) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 0.8 (33.4) |
0.8 (33.4) |
2.2 (36.0) |
4.0 (39.2) |
6.6 (43.9) |
9.6 (49.3) |
11.4 (52.5) |
11.2 (52.2) |
8.4 (47.1) |
5.1 (41.2) |
2.4 (36.3) |
0.6 (33.1) |
5.3 (41.5) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −16 (3.2) |
−12 (10.4) |
−6 (21.2) |
−4 (24.8) |
−2 (28.4) |
2.0 (35.6) |
4.0 (39.2) |
4.5 (40.1) |
0.0 (32.0) |
−4.5 (23.9) |
−14 (6.8) |
−15 (5.0) |
−16 (3.2) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 129.8 (5.11) |
105.9 (4.169) |
86.9 (3.421) |
57.0 (2.244) |
44.9 (1.768) |
40.9 (1.61) |
26.0 (1.024) |
28.2 (1.11) |
38.5 (1.516) |
81.3 (3.201) |
146.9 (5.783) |
137.8 (5.425) |
924.0 (36.378) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 116.1 (4.571) |
96.8 (3.811) |
85.1 (3.35) |
57.0 (2.244) |
44.9 (1.768) |
40.9 (1.61) |
26.0 (1.024) |
28.2 (1.11) |
38.5 (1.516) |
80.9 (3.185) |
143.0 (5.63) |
126.9 (4.996) |
884.3 (34.815) |
| Snowfall cm (inches) | 13.7 (5.39) |
9.1 (3.58) |
1.8 (0.71) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0.3 (0.12) |
3.9 (1.54) |
10.9 (4.29) |
39.7 (15.63) |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 16.5 | 14.1 | 14.4 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.2 | 5.9 | 5.7 | 7.3 | 12.2 | 17.2 | 16.4 | 142.0 |
| Avg. rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 15.0 | 13.3 | 14.3 | 12.5 | 10.7 | 9.2 | 5.9 | 5.7 | 7.3 | 12.1 | 16.7 | 15.2 | 137.9 |
| Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm) | 2.3 | 1.3 | 0.37 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.07 | 0.70 | 1.9 | 6.7 |
| Source: Environment Canada | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Gabriola Island
Famous quotes containing the word climate:
“Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“Ghosts, we hope, may be always with us—that is, never too far out of the reach of fancy. On the whole, it would seem they adapt themselves well, perhaps better than we do, to changing world conditions—they enlarge their domain, shift their hold on our nerves, and, dispossessed of one habitat, set up house in another. The universal battiness of our century looks like providing them with a propitious climate ...”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“If often he was wrong and at times absurd,
To us he is no more a person
Now but a whole climate of opinion.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)