October 2022 – October Heat Leads to Raft of Records and Shocking Averages

October 2022 – October Heat Leads to Raft of Records and Shocking Averages

Alberniweather and Port Alberni Summary for October 2022


Story of the Month – Summer that never ends!

The story was the heat with a side of extended drought. The normal average temperature for the month of October is the same whether you’re talking about the Airport (Valley) or town (closer to the sea). Both the City stations and the Airport had average maximum temperatures 5.9º C hotter than normal. Shocking.

In other words, your normal high temperature during October would average out around 14-15ºC. This October, the average was over 20ºC. It was the highest in the records dating back to 1900. 1906 was the top before, and frankly it looked like an outlier. This month, even though the Airport was missing data from the 6th, one of the hottest days, it still tied that record and so will have been hotter. Alberniweather was 1ºC hotter still.

The Airport set a new standard in its own records (since 1994) on 19 or 31 days. 17 of those more than half of the month, new highs. Stunning.

5 new all time day highs were set going back to 1900 though the top for the month, 31.7ºC, was not.

We also had no rain for the majority of the month. Continuing a dry spell that began in late July. We ended up getting a few days of rain which brought us up to around 1/3rd of our normal rainfall for the month.

Check out the list of records below and the graphs that show a couple more.


Daily and All Time Day Records Set

Set at Airport* since 1994 and compared to other stations** since 1900 (1895 for rain)


Nineteen of thirty one days set some sort of record at the Airport since 1994. The Airport now holds one new All Time Record high temperature for October 15 and is 2nd only to Robertson Creek which now holds All Time Records for October 2, 3, 14 and 16. In addition the Airport set a low temperature and rainfall record on October 23 and 27 respectively. They were not all-time records.


This Month’s Graphs from Alberni Valley Weather Stations

A selection of graphs from Environment Canada stations and Alberniweather

This year stands out for October Maximum Temperatures Click for Larger Version
This year stands out for October Mean Temperatures – Tied with 1936 for highest mean in the record.
This year stands out for October Average Maximum Temperature – The Official Station is tied but with one day missing, Alberniweather set a new record of 21.0º C

City Station Values

Mean Min, Mean, and Mean Max Temperature, 
Total Precipitation and Highest Wind


  • Alberniweather (AveragesDaily): 7.7º C, 13.3º C, 21.0º C77.0 mm, SE 64.4 kph on 27th
  • Maquinna Elem.: 11.5º C, 15.5º C,20.3º C, 87.1 mm, NA

City and Airport Averages
Compared to Normal


Differences from Normal (1971-2000) in the City

+4.6° C, +4.5º C, +5.9º C-111.6 mm (42.4%)

This Month’s Average City Values

Differences from Normal (1981-2010) at the Airport

+0.2° C, +2.8º C, +5.9º C -231.2 mm (31.3%)

This Month’s Average Airport Values

Normal Days of Precipitation at Airport (1981-2010)

Normal vs Days This Month

  • >= 0.2 mm: 15.8 :  9
  • >= 5 mm:  8.2 : 7
  • >= 10 mm: 5.8 : 5
  • >= 25 mm: 2.6 : 1

* May have used backup Environment Canada Data source at WeatherStats.ca for Missing Data

** Short Term means since 1994 at the new AVRA Airport. Airport Records are compared to the 30+ year weather stations of record since 1900 (1895 for rain) at Beaver Creek, Port Alberni “City” and Robertson Creek.  Note that records pre 1950 may be more likely to over-estimate high temperatures.


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