A season of extremes across B.C.: How temperatures fell from grace

It turns out that the average can be a combination of extremes in the pattern, and that's the case for Vancouver, B.C., this fall.

Climate is what you expect, but the weather is what you get. This summarizes the fall season in Vancouver.

When you take the average temperature of 90 days, you wash out the weather storyline.

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10.7°C, that's roughly the average temperature this fall season for Vancouver International Airport -- typical median for September, October and November. Bang on seasonal. Anyone who lived through this volatile fall would challenge this notion.

The story becomes more transparent when you snap the season into the distinctive months.

• September: 16°C (Average: 15.2°C)

• October: 12.1°C (Average: 10.4°C)

• November: 3.9°C (Average: 6.5°C)

It's even more extreme when analyzing the most anomalously warm and cold weeks encapsulated in fall.

Think back to the earliest weeks in September. The first week had a mean temperature of 17.4°C, which is impressive because it's only a couple of degrees off a September average daily high.

October featured extreme warmth, as well. Take Oct. 1-7: With a mean temperature of 14.8°C, that's within a degree of the average high temperature for the same period.

As for November, temperatures fell to 2.7°C during the week of Nov. 14. And to top it all off, it was the snowiest November since 2010, but a far cry from the 38 cm of snow that fell in November of 2006.

There was one consistent metric through the previous few months, however, and that was the lack of precipitation. Except for two weeks in late October, B.C. has been stubbornly in a precipitation deficit. All in all, 197.3 mm fell -- about 161 mm below the climate average for the season for Vancouver airport.