Precipitation trends in version 2 of the Canadian homogenized monthly precipitation dataset
| dc.contributor.author | Wang, Xiaolan | |
| dc.contributor.author | Feng, Yang | |
| dc.contributor.author | Zwiers, Francis W. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Cheng, Vincent | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-05-26T18:54:59Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-05-26T18:54:59Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2026 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This paper describes the development of two improved Canadian homogenized monthly precipitation datasets, the CanHomP mlyV2 station dataset, which includes the entire data record of 425 long-term stations across Canada (since 1840 or later), and its gridded version CanGridP mlyV2, which covers the entire Canadian land mass for the 1949–2023 period and southern Canada for 1916–2023. The latter is subsequently used to provide updated estimates of Canada's historical precipitation trends with an assessment of trend representativeness. The V2 datasets benefit from the use of improved station data and metadata and an improved data homogenization procedure, which together result in better spatial consistency of trends than seen in unhomogenized data. Estimates of precipitation trends based on CanGridP mlyV2 also exhibit temperature scaling rates that are more in line with physical expectations than the previous versions of gridded precipitation datasets, which exhibited unphysically high temperature scaling rates. Precipitation is estimated to have increased in most areas from southern Nunavut to the Arctic Archipelago and from Labrador to northeastern Quebec in all seasons. It has also increased in a zonal band around 62°N in summer, and in most areas in British Columbia and along the St. Lawrence River in spring and autumn. The most outstanding variation of trends in seasonal precipitation is seen in a broad band across southern Canada, where winter precipitation has decreased significantly without extensively significant changes in the other seasons. The best estimate of increase in the period 1949–2023 is 9.7% for Canada as a whole, 18.9% for Canada's North, and 7.5% for Canada's South. The estimated rate of change in Canada's annual precipitation expressed as a function of surface air temperature change is 4.9% per 1˚C of warming for the period 1949–2023. Over the century-long period 1916–2023, annual precipitation in Canada's South is estimated to have increased 10.7%. | |
| dc.description.reviewstatus | Reviewed | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Faculty | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | This work was supported by the Environment and Climate Change Canada. | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Wang, X. L., Feng, Y., Zwiers, F. W., & Cheng, V. Y. S. (2026). Precipitation Trends in Version 2 of the Canadian homogenized monthly precipitation dataset. Atmosphere-Ocean, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/07055900.2026.2617861 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.1080/07055900.2026.2617861 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/23940 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Atmosphere-Ocean | |
| dc.rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International | en |
| dc.rights.uri | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ | |
| dc.subject | UN SDG 13: Climate Action | |
| dc.subject | #journal article | |
| dc.subject | Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC) | |
| dc.subject | precipitation | |
| dc.subject | trend analysis | |
| dc.subject | reanalysis data | |
| dc.subject | climate change | |
| dc.subject | quality control | |
| dc.subject | homogeneity tests | |
| dc.subject | data homogenization | |
| dc.title | Precipitation trends in version 2 of the Canadian homogenized monthly precipitation dataset | |
| dc.type | Article |