1. Montreal is located at a confluence of 2 large rivers
2. The region is open plains and woodlands without large mountain features.
3. Cold occluded fronts do form. Precipitation ranges seasonally from rain, snow and ice storms.
4. During the winter the seasonal climate is effected by cP, cA, and mP (Icelandic Low) air masses.
In the summer cP, mP, mT(Gulf of Mexico), and cT air masses create the weather in Montreal.
The airmasses change seasonally due to the change in the sub solar point (sun angle) through the
year.
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| Map of the air masses which affect North America. Image from http://earth.usc.edu/~stott/Catalina/WeatherPatterns.html |
Micro-Scale Climate Controls
1. Higher humidity in Montreal since most of the city was built on an island surrounded by rivers.
2. Urban heat island, the center of the city contains busy ports and the population of the city has
grown. This increase can be seen by looking at the historical temperature trends. This data is from the weather station at the airport, and was gathered from http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/CYUL/2012/04/27/DailyHistory.html
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| This is the July max and min temperatures from 1950 till 2011. This data indicates a general trend of higher temperatures. Data from 1963 through 1972 was not available from the weather station. |
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| This is data from January from the same time and shows an increase as well. |
By looking at the data an overall the regional climate is warming. The winter's are still very cold mainly due to the effects of the continental polar air mass which is extremely dense and dry cold air that stays around keeping the temperatures constantly low, thus the warming trend is mitigated slightly. Summer shows the most change in temperatures. This rise in temperatures along with the already higher humidity can raise the heat index to potentially deadly heat waves as this trend continues.
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| Climagraph of Montreal showing temperature, precipitation and amount of daylight per month from http://www.simplyairlines.com/cityguides/montreal-city-guide.php |
Koppen-Geiger climate classification
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| This the a Koppen-Geiger climate map of the world. Image from http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/present.htm |
Based on this scale Montreal is within the range of Dfd. This range is
D = snow
f = fully humid
d = extremely coninental
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