This will wrap up the month of December. Starting in January I will employ a new system whereby temperatures within 5 degrees Celsius of one another will receive the same ranking unless they are sequentially within 5 degrees (i.e. 5C - 10C - 15C -- the 10 and the 15 will be ranked together and the 5 will be one level down). I recall from my days living in Ottawa that the humidity summer and winter was unbearable (
especially for a western boy) -- in the winter the humidity caused the cold to penetrate deeply and I recall people with arthritic conditions suffered immensely; in the summer, increased humidity caused excessive discomfort from sweating to the point of having clothing soaked through. That said, the same scale -- this time measured in percentages -- will feature the 5-point separation rule. Precipitation will remian the same -- not directly aligned with humidity but rather with dew point ranked as Heavy Snowfall being the worst, followed by light snowfall, followed by sleet, followed by heavy rainfall, followed by light rainfall. Last, wind will be ranked in the same 5-point rule. Just for comparison sake, let's see how Friday's ranking would alter the score when measured both ways.
Above the old method (used to finish out the month) has Vancouver tied with Winnipeg in first place with Edmonton in third and then Toronto and Ottawa. Via the new system under temperature Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto would all be ranked the same at 5 and Edmonton and Winnipeg would be ranked the same at 2. Under Humidity Winnipeg would be ranked 5 and Edmonton and Vancouver would be at 4; Ottawa and Toronto would be ranked at 2. Under "Precipitation" the ranking would be the same. And for Wind, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Ottawa would all be ranked 5 and Toronto would remain at 1
So the new system scores would be Edmonton -- 2 + 4 + 5 + 5 = 16/4 = 4.0 (.25 higher than old system)); Vancouver -- 5 + 4 + 5 + 5 = 19/4 = 4.75 (.75 higher than the old system); Winnipeg -- 2 + 5 + 5 + 5 = 17/4 = 4.25 (.25 higher than the old system); Ottawa -- 5 + 2 + 1 + 5 = 13/4 = 3.25 (1.25 higher than the old system); Toronto -- 5 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 10/4 = 2.5 (same score as the old system).
Now I will admit that "sensed weather" is largely subjective. I still contend that "dry cold" is much preferable to "humid cold" and that precipitation of any kind is worse than none, graded by type and that wind is not at all desirable at the extremes of temperature. So what is the difference in this instance between rankings Vancouver, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Ottawa, and then Toronto. Vancouver separates itself from Winnipeg to take the lead, Winnipeg 2nd followed by Edmonton and then Ottawa and Toronto switch places with Toronto coming in last.