1986 — Kentville, Nova Scotia

Out in the Atlantic, it was a busy storm season with ten named storms, but none of them made their way to the Valley. Here in Kentville, things stayed mostly calm - though the rain certainly made itself known. A total of 973.3 mm fell over the year, with July taking the lead at 172.9 mm. On July 28 alone, 56.4 mm poured down in one day. Even winter had a wet twist: on January 3, 34.8 mm of rain fell with barely a dusting of snow in sight.

Snow did show up later, though - and in impressive amounts. By the end of the year, 274.8 cm had fallen, with February doing most of the work at 96.8 cm. The biggest storm hit on February 21, dropping 33 cm in a single day.

Summer turned up the heat in July, when temperatures climbed to 31.5ºC, while January’s coldest day hit –21.0ºC. The year balanced out with an average temperature of 6.6ºC - a cool, steady tone that I’ve captured with my jade yarn.