Climate Change Chart of Charlottetown, Canada

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature shows a difference of +1.46 °C compared with the earlier reference period; this is an unweighted comparison of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average or a measure of daytime maximum temperatures. The largest monthly increase was in June, with a difference of +2.28 °C. This identifies the strongest increase among the supplied monthly temperature differences, rather than describing every month's change.

Changes in snowfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily snowfall had a difference of +0.62 mm/day compared with the earlier reference period. This is an unweighted comparison of monthly means, and the figures represent daily amounts rather than monthly totals. The largest monthly increase in mean daily snowfall was in February, with a difference of +4.42 mm/day. The largest monthly decrease occurred in April, with a difference of -3.94 mm/day; these opposing monthly differences show why the across-month mean should not be taken to describe each month.

Changes in rainfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily rainfall had a difference of +0.30 mm/day compared with the earlier reference period. This is an unweighted average of monthly means, and the values describe daily amounts rather than monthly rainfall totals. The largest monthly increase in mean daily rainfall was in December, with a difference of +1.14 mm/day. By contrast, May had the largest monthly decrease, a difference of -0.33 mm/day; these extrema describe particular months and do not imply that rainfall moved in the same direction in every month.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration, averaged across calendar months, had a difference of -0.45 hours/day compared with the earlier reference period. The figure is an unweighted mean of monthly values, not a day-weighted annual average. The largest monthly decrease was in March, with a difference of -0.92 hours/day. That monthly result marks the strongest decrease in the supplied sunshine differences; it does not establish the direction of change for every other month.