Climate Change Chart of Whitehorse, Canada

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature shows a difference of +1.55 °C compared with the earlier reference period; this unweighted comparison summarizes monthly means and is not a measure of daytime maximum temperatures or a continuous trend. The clearest monthly contrast is +4.42 °C in January, the largest monthly increase, while -0.86 °C in March marks the largest monthly decrease. These monthly differences show that the overall mean does not describe the change in every month.

Changes in snowfall

Mean daily snowfall averaged across calendar months has a difference of +0.90 mm/day compared with the earlier reference period. This unweighted summary of monthly means is not a monthly snowfall total or a day-weighted annual average. The largest monthly increase was +3.08 mm/day in February, whereas the largest monthly decrease was -0.60 mm/day in September. The overall difference does not mean that every month's mean daily snowfall changed in the same direction.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration, averaged across calendar months, has a difference of -0.39 hours/day compared with the earlier reference period. This is an unweighted comparison of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average. The largest monthly decrease was -0.91 hours/day in June, while the largest monthly increase was +0.13 hours/day in December. These monthly contrasts qualify the overall mean: it does not imply that sunshine duration changed in the same direction in every month.

Changes in rainfall

Mean daily rainfall averaged across calendar months has a difference of +0.20 mm/day compared with the earlier reference period, an unweighted summary of monthly means rather than a monthly total or a day-weighted annual average. The largest monthly increase was +0.73 mm/day in July; by contrast, the largest monthly decrease was -0.02 mm/day in November. These differences describe the respective monthly mean daily amounts, not a uniform change across all months or individual days.