A Year of Weather

 Last August I set out to record daily temperatures in 5 places in the world. I set up a chart with a colour for each 4-5 degree range. I used a weather app on my iPad; the temperatures are predictive, not actual. I did not account for rainfall or humidity. My aim was to mark time through temperature in a visible way, and to connect with friends in those far flung places by having a small insight into their daily experience. 

 Initially I thought -35 to + 35 should cover all possibilities. 

We had a particularly cold winter so I added -36 and colder. 

Then as spring and summer came in Calcutta, I realized that I needed another distinction for +35 to 39, followed a few weeks later by another category for +40. 

The numbers to the left of the colour blocks refer to pencil colour. 

Here are the charts in 4 month sections:

September 2020 - December 2020

January 2021 - April 2021

The red marker indicates our spring snow storm. 

May 2021 -  August 2021

The marker indicates a day when temperatures were in the same ranges in 3 places. This happened a handful of times through the year. There were a few more with same ranges in 2 places. 

This is the whole year:

This was never intended to be a scientific survey, so my conclusions will not necessarily stand up to scrutiny. I do, however, have a few impressions to share. 

1. I was surprised to have to add additional colours at both ends of the scale. Having now experienced +39 in the western North American heat dome, I do not feel that I am at all suited to being in Calcutta in July. 

2. The Canadian prairies, including 2 of my charted locations, presented the widest range of temperatures over the course of a year. A more typical range is 60 degrees (from -30 to +30) but this year it was 80 degrees (-40 to +40)

Dressed to go out in -35 or there abouts.

3. Curitiba, Brazil wins the award for variability especially in the swing seasons of spring and fall. 

4. Calcutta, India wins the award for stability. Do people there even talk about the weather?

5. Bern, Switzerland, while pretty mild through the winter, had a really cool and wet summer. It was forecast to reach 30 only 4 days, compared to 22 days in Edmonton. 

I have wrapped up this project, but I will continue to be interested in what is going on elsewhere and what the day feels like for my friends.