I suppose you could make the argument that last August, wasn't really August at all and that it should only & ever be referred to as FOGUST. (In St. John's & along the NE Coast anyway) However when you break down the numbers, Fogust was really only confined to the first 11 days of the month. From August 13th to August 31st, here in St. John's we went on to hit 20 or more, 16 out of a possible 19 days. It was a 'decent' end to the month.

 

But it was too late! The first 11 days of the month (which of course was prime time festival & holiday season) had us completely rotted! Juneuary was still fresh in our minds, July was "meh" and then Fogust rolled in. And it was just as bad as you remember. The folk festival was forced in doors and the flight delays & cancellations were piling up. These are snap shots from last August, taken from the CBC Webcam at the Rooms. Thanks to John Gushue for passing these along :)

As 7 days became 8 and 9, then 10 and 11... the scale of what we were experiencing was slowly coming to light. These are tweets from Rodney Barney at the Gander Weather Office, posted last August 11th.

In the end, St. John's YYT recorded 53 mm of rain over 11 straight days with precipitation. 9 of the 11 days had fog reported. It was truly miserable.

 

 

This Summer of course, has been almost the exact opposite of last year. June & July were fantastic, not only here in St. John's, but for most of NL.

 

When comparing this year to last year... this chart pretty much says it all. From 10's, 11's, 12's & 13's... to temps into the high 20's! Last year, we could have only dreamed for the temperatures we've been having.  

So again, last year August 1st to 10th or even 1st to 11th... when you look at daytime high temperatures... it was coldest start to August on record. And although this year hasn't been the warmest start to August ever, it's into the top 5 on record!

1st: 1970:  25.2

2nd: 2004: 24.9

3rd: 1996:  24.9

5th: 1989:  24.1

Again, a big thanks to Rodney Barney who helped dig up these numbers. 

Of course, it's important to remember that St. John's wasn't alone in it's misery last August. Most of the Northeast Coast was experience the cold onshore winds from the North Atlantic. Look at the difference between this August and last Fogust in Gander. 

I'll leave you with one more crazy stat... 

On Saturday, St. John's hit 20 for the 48th time this year. ALL OF LAST YEAR, we only hit the 20 mark, 47 times. Now you may be surprised that we actually hit that mark 47 times, however as Rodney pointed out on Twitter on Friday, at THIS point last year we had only hit 20, just 20 times. 

It was really, (today's date) August 13th when the Sun returned, Summer hit reset and we went on to hit 20 or warmer, 27 times through the later half of August, September and even a couple times in October! 

So as things cloud up, fog up and cool down in Eastern & Northeastern Newfoundland this week, there's a chance your brain could experience a few flashbacks. But just remember... nothing will ever compare to Fogust of 2011... we hope :)

Ryan