Temperature–Precipitation Relationships for Canadian Stations

Abstract

The dependence of daily precipitation upon average daily temperature has been examined for all seasons using climatological data from 56 stations across Canada. For cast and west coast sites, and the north, more precipitation occurs with warm and cold temperatures during January and July, respectively. In the middle of the country, the temperature dependence tends to increase toward the Arctic, with strong dependencies in the Northwest Territories and weaker dependencies on the Prairies. Southern Ontario and Quebec show almost no dependence of precipitation upon temperature during July, but more precipitation falls during warm weather during the winter. For stations within and immediately downwind of the Rockies, for all seasons, more precipitation occurs when the temperature is colder. These temperature-precipitation relationships can provide information on precipitation formation processes, as well as assistance in weather and climate forecasting.