As long as I can remember, I have always associated the weather on my birthday with -20-something degrees celcius. I remember frigid walks from home to the bowling alley (or back from) in my teens. We always say stuff like, “Oh, it’s just Cat’s birthday with 40-below temperatures!”
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Every time I see a forecast with an above-zero temperature for the 23rd of January, think how odd that is. How abnormal that is. It’s not Birthday Weather with cold so biting that the hairs inside your nose freeze together when you try to breathe!
And yet… I looked up historical weather information for my birthday and see that my frozen birthday memories are… false?
They are predicting a high of 6°C , no precipitation, this year. I feel very weird when the temperature is above zero on my birthday. I always thought the warmest birthday I ever experienced was in 2009 when I went to Disney World. But I was wrong, I suppose. I do believe that was the only time I was able to be coatless & bootless on my birthday though. My birthday is a week away however, so the actual temperatures and weather are subject to change one billionty times between now and then. You can be certain that I will note it down on that day of course.
And because I love to nerd-out over the weather (temperature) records for my birthday, here’s my list!
| Year | Hi | Low |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | -26 °C | -31 °C |
| 1977 | -12 °C | -16 |
| 1978 | -4 °C | -7 |
| 1979 | -6 °C | -12 |
| 1980 | -1 °C | -13 |
| 1981 | -4 °C | -11 |
| 1982 | -2 °C | -22 |
| 1983 | -2 °C | -5 |
| 1984 | -6°C | -13 |
| 1985 | -5°C | -11 |
| 1986 | -9°C | -16 |
| 1987 | -5°C | -17 |
| 1988 | -3°C | -13 |
| 1989 | -4°C | -12 |
| 1990 | -1°C | -10 |
| 1991 | -4°C | -18 |
| 1992 | 1°C | -16 |
| 1993 | 3°C | 1 |
| 1994 | -16°C | -22 |
| 1995 | -2°C | -6 |
| 1996 | 2°C | 0 |
| 1997 | 6°C | -18 |
| 1998 | -5°C | -18 |
| 1999 | 7°C | -2 |
| 2000 | -14°C | -23 |
| 2001 | 0°C | -7 |
| 2002 | 6°C | -2 |
| 2003 | -6°C | -21 |
| 2004 | -17°C | -21 |
| 2005 | -14°C | -21 |
| 2006 | -3°C | -9 |
| 2007 | -3°C | -13 |
| 2008 | -5°C | -14 |
| 2009 | -11°C | -14 |
| 2010 | -2°C | -14 |
| 2011 | -18°C | -25 |
| 2012 | 4°C | -13 |
| 2013 | -22°C | -27 |
| 2014 | -17°C | -23 |
| 2015 | -12°C | -14 |
| 2016 | -8°C | -13 |
| 2017 | 0°C | -4 |
As you can see, there are few -20+°C days on here. Perhaps I have memories of the temps WITH windchill added in? All the historical info only gives you the actual highs and lows, not the extra “feels-like” information. Looks like the actual date I was born still holds the record for coldest January 23rd ever here in my neck of the woods.
I’m silly insomuch as I like to know the records highs & lows for dates. I like to know what time it is all the time, and I like to know what the temperature is. I don’t really care about the weather itself – unless I am tracking how much snow we’ve had in a winter
This is likely a very dull post for most of you. I think my mum will find it interesting though. I may have gotten my weather-obsession from her. (Including the “what is the water temperature today?” part from our summers on Lake Champlain!)
Yes, these are things I think about on a regular basis. Which also means I spend, like, an hour looking up historical data on temperatures from my birthdate while sitting on the couch in my pjs. There are likely 1000 more productive things I could be doing with my time, but this is what amused me for the past hour. If you have known me long, and still like being my friend, I thank you for putting up with my quirks and weirdness. You are wonderful people in my life. heh
