Scorching. Balmy. Or, just plain mild. However you want to describe it, 2015 ended on an extraordinarily mild note. The month of December 2015 was by far the warmest December on record across virtually the entire province! How much warmer? The monthly average temperature in Ontario was five to ten degrees above the 1981-2010 normal. Such a large positive departure from normal over such a large area has never been seen before. This warm spell was characterized by its length, but also by its intensity. Not only were monthly mean temperature records set throughout the province, but single-day maximum temperature marks were also posted at a number of locations on December 11, 14, 23 and 24. Precipitation amounts were within the normal range in southern Ontario and the Far North, but conditions were wetter than normal for the remainder of the province. More rainfall than normal accompanied the warm temperatures, while unsurprisingly less snowfall also fell. This December and holiday season were extraordinarily mild and snow-free.
The mean temperature in Peterborough was 2.6 C, which is 7.0 C above the 1981-2010 normal of -4.4 C and 7.9 C above the 1971 – 2000 normal of -5.3 C. The previous mean temperature record was 0.2 C, set in 2006.
source: Geoff Coulson Warning Preparedness Meteorologist Environment Canada ….
