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Kalin's Call: Frosty October morning sets record lows in the Maritimes

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A number of weather stations recorded record-low temperatures in the Maritimes on Monday.

New Brunswick

Bathurst Airport: -1.8 C

Edmundston: -6.1 C

Kouchibouguac: -2.5 C

Saint John Airport: -2.1 C

St. Stephen: -3.3 C

Nova Scotia

Bedford Range: -1.2 C

Halifax International Airport: 0.4 C

Halifax Windsor Park: 3.3 C

Malay Falls: -0.9 C

P.E.I.

Charlottetown Airport: -0.9 C

Several other sites in the region came close to matching record lows. In general, morning temperatures were several degrees below early October averages, which range from about 2 to 6 degrees Celsius. Patchy frost and even some ice was spotted around the region to start the day.

Recorded low temperatures were reported on Oct. 3, 2022. Some of the sites set new record lows for the date.

The combination of being on the eastern side of a high-pressure system set us up for the fall frost. The atmosphere circulates clockwise around high-pressure systems in the northern hemisphere. That circulation brought a northerly wind to the Maritimes that tapped into colder air in place in northern Quebec and Labrador. Additionally, the high pressure kept the night sky clear and the wind light, allowing for more radiational cooling (loss of heat due to emission of longwave radiation from the Earth’s surface).

High pressure has brought a chillier northerly flow of air, clear sky, and light wind -- a perfect recipe for frost.

Given it’s a very similar weather pattern for Monday night, expect another chilly, even frosty, start to the day Tuesday.

Frost advisories remain in effect for large parts of the Maritimes for Monday night. Note that frost advisories are only issued during determined “growing seasons,” and since northern New Brunswick is past that part of the season, no advisories are in effect there despite the fact that there will almost assuredly be some frost development Monday night. Frost advisories will no longer be issued for other parts of the Maritimes after October 15.

Another chilly early October night is ahead with more frost advisories issued.

The average first frost in the Maritimes ranges from early September in northwestern New Brunswick to late September/early October for much of the rest of the region.

Some coastal areas of Nova Scotia and eastern P.E.I. sometimes don’t see frost until mid-October. A turn to southerly winds will bring the overnight low temperatures up after Tuesday. That will last until Saturday night, when a northwest wind takes back over following the passage of a cold front on Saturday.

A general map on when parts of the region typically experience a first fall frost. Some areas, like the Cape Breton Highlands, lack data.

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