Timeline: History of the Climate Trends and Variations Bulletin
The Climate Trends and Variations Bulletin (CTVB) dates back 30 years to 1992. Here you can learn about some of its major moments, findings and technological/methodological advancements over time. The CTVB continues to evolve and advance its methodology to bring quality climate services and information to Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
Did you know?
The Climate Trends and Variations Bulletin was originally known as the Seasonal and Annual Climate Assessments back in 1992?
1992
Environment Canada, now known as Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), publishes the first edition of CTVB (1991/1992 winter). The CTVB is based on homogenized monthly temperature. The findings show strong warming in west-central Canada (results published in the State of the Environment report no 92-2).
The 1992 Summer CTVB is also published in the September 1992 Vol. 14 edition of Climatic Perspectives bilingually.
1993
Precipitation results were being reported for the first time in CTVB along with the temperature results. Findings show that precipitation has slightly increased in Canada, mainly in the eastern and northern regions (results published in the State of the Environment report no 95-1).
1995
For the first time, the bulletin is published both online in the World Wide Web along with the printed hardcopy version, and the name of the bulletin is officially known as the Climate Trends and Variations Bulletin of Canada.
1999
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) starts using results from CTVBs in their own annual Statement on the Status of the Global Climate report, which now known as the State of the Global Climate report.
2005
For the first time, the results from CTVBs contribute to the State of the Climate report published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS).
2010
CTVB uses the temperature and precipitation data product Canadian Gridded Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies (CANGRD) to produce maps, graphs, and ranked summary tables in CTVB reporting. CANGRD is based on newly developed datasets: Second Generation Homogenized Temperature and Second Generation Adjusted Precipitation.
2011
Update of the CTVB reference period from 1951-1980 to 1961-1990 for the baseline average calculation (defined as the mean over the reference period).
The CTVB declares 2010 the warmest year in Canada since nationwide records began in 1948. The national annual average temperature shows a linear increase of 1.8°C for 1948-2010. Positive trends are observed in annual rainfall at locations from coast to coast and in the North.
2019
CTVB introduced the download feature on the bulletin webpage, which allowed readers to download the bulletin results with the click of a button.
2020
The first infobytes were produced as part of the first social media posts for CTVB on ECCC and ECCC S&T Twitter accounts.
2021
The latest generation of CANGRD was adopted in the analyses of the CTVB. This update enhanced the maps, graphs, and ranked-summary tables produced in the bulletin reporting. CANGRD is now based on the Third Generation Homogenized Temperature.
2022
The CTVB reports that annual temperatures averaged across the nation have warmed by 1.9°C for 1948-2021. The warmest year in record is still 2010, when the national average temperature was 3.0°C above the baseline average (1961-1990).
Special thanks to Donald Gullett, Leslie Malone, Tommy Jang, Lucie Vincent, Robert Whitewood and many more, who were instrumental to the creation of the CTVB.
Page details
- Date modified: