Victoria Slonosky: Canada’s Climate History: Weather Observations from the St-Lawrence Valley, 1742-2010

In conjunctions with our colleagues in Geography, through the Geospectives Speaker Series, Victoria Slonosky will be at McGill to present her research on the St Lawrence.

Systematic climatic and daily instrumental weather observations in Montreal and Québec City were kept from the mid-1700s until the end of the 19th century. These weather registers have been digitized by a crowd-source citizen science data rescue project. Daily temperature readings have been assessed for quality and regression models used to reconstruct minimum and maximum temperatures. Climatic indicators such as heat wave and cold spell counts suggest considerable decadal scale variability over the past 200 years. Many of these observers were part of Montreal’s 19th century scientific establishment and several had connections to McGill. Their motivations for collecting records include attempts to evaluate human-induced climate change and an interest in the relationship between climate and disease.

Dr. Slonosky’s research project is viewable at https://sites.google.com/site/historicalclimatedata/Home

For more information on Geospectives please visit the Series website at https://www.mcgill.ca/geography/geospectives