Climate Change Chart of Iqaluit, Canada

Overview of climate changes

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration showed an unweighted average difference across calendar months of -0.85 hours/day in the more recent period. The aggregate decrease does not mean that sunshine duration fell in every month. The largest monthly decrease was in June, with a difference of -2.51 hours/day hours per day. In contrast, November recorded the largest increase, at a difference of +0.09 hours/day hours per day, illustrating the contrast between the overall mean and the month with the strongest increase.

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature had a difference of +0.83 °C in the more recent period. This is a comparison of monthly means, not daytime maximum temperatures, and it describes the aggregate rather than a change shared by every month. The largest monthly increase was in December, with a difference of +2.27 °C. By contrast, the largest decreases were tied in February / November, each with a difference of -0.85 °C; these extrema show that month-to-month differences did not all move in the same direction.

Changes in snowfall

Mean daily snowfall had an unweighted difference across calendar-month means of +0.12 mm/day. This summarizes the monthly averages; it is not a monthly total or a claim that each month changed by the same amount. The largest monthly increase occurred in April, with a difference of +2.02 mm/day in mean daily snowfall. The largest decrease was in November, at a difference of -1.33 mm/day, so the monthly extremes point in opposing directions despite the positive across-month mean difference.

Changes in rainfall

Mean daily rainfall, rather than monthly rainfall totals, had an unweighted across-month difference of +0.04 mm/day. This is a small aggregate increase, not evidence that daily rainfall increased in every month. The largest monthly increase occurred in July, at a difference of +0.53 mm/day, while June had the largest decrease, a difference of -0.22 mm/day. These are differences in mean daily amounts for the named months, not changes in monthly totals.