Hamilton’s issuing of another cold weather alert Tuesday — its fifth this month — might have some residents asking: Is this our coldest January in recent memory?
Surprisingly, it’s far from it, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Gerald Cheng.
The average mean temperature of -6.3 C this month barely cracks Hamilton’s top-25 coldest January’s dating back to 1959, said Cheng, adding the lowest average mean temperature recorded was in 1994 at -10.3 C.
Meanwhile, present nighttime lows in the city also lag historically.
The average nighttime low in January 2022 ranks 12th all-time at -11.4 C, with 2014 and 2015 — at -12.4 C and -11.8 C, respectively — each edging into the top-10. The coldest average nighttime low for January was also in 1994 at a frigid -19.8 C.
Cheng admits it’s been cold this month — but a normal kind of cold. What’s changed, perhaps, is our perception of the cold given the recent string of warmer winters, he said.
“We were spoiled rotten in December,” said Cheng. “Our perception of cold is different because it’s always that first event that gets people — whether it’s snow or heat.
Indeed, compared to January, December was sizzling with a mean average temperature just shy of 1 C. People get accustomed to that weather, said Cheng, and need to adjust when a real cold front hit.
“You’re not used to it,” he said. “And coming out of December, an above normal month, people weren’t used to (this week’s) cold, even if it’s normal.”
Environment Canada forecasted temperatures to fall to -20 C overnight and -24 with the wind chill Tuesday, with a chance of flurries over the next few days.
It prompted Hamilton’s medical officer of health to issue its third cold weather alert in the past five days.
The alert — issued anytime temperatures are at or below -15 C or -20 with the wind chill — will remain active until a cancellation notice is issued.
