Wind in Edmonton Part 5: Windy Dates & Days

Today we are going to take a look at some of the really windy days in Edmonton's history.

In Part 4 we looked at days with hours of 40km/h+ and 60km/h+, and also gusts of 80km/h+ and 100km/h+, and we will use those same breakdowns today.

Hours at 40km/h or more

Out of the 8,760 hours in a year, about 8,690 of them have windspeeds below 40km/h, which leaves on average 70 hours each year at 40km/h or more. That is just the average though, and it is based on all the data going back to 1953 for Blatchford & 1960 for the International. As we have seen earlier in our look at Edmonton's wind, the 1960s had a disproportionately high number of our windy days.

And speaking of disproportionate, May 17 is Edmonton's undisputed champion for 40km/h+ winds. Since records began Blatchford has recorded 62 hours at 40km/h+ on May 17, and the International has recorded 70. The second highest days at Blatchford all total under 35 hours, and for the International they are under 40 hours.

The most recent windy May 17 was in 2019, with 2 hours at the International. But May 17 back in 1965 had 16 hours at 40km/h+ at Blatchford at 18 hours at the International.

One other thing to notice here is how much the 40km/h hours disappear during August, especially for the International. There are a few days in there - August 10, 11, 17, 19 & 21 - which have never recorded an hourly windspeed of 40km/h, going back to 1960. Blatchford also has a few of those days early in the year - on January 15, 26, 29...

Hours at 60km/h or more

For hours at 60km/h+ May 17th loses its crown, a bit. At Blatchford January 1 & May 17 are both tied with 6 hours in total at 60km/h+. For the International June 1 is the leader with 10 hours, all in a single day in 1984.

Looking at the bubbles on the bottom, we once again see that the 1960s has a lot more bubbles than the other years. And in recent years May 24, 2017 had 2 hours with windspeeds above 60km/h, and gusts to 104km/h.

Gusts of 80km/h or more

Here we have all of the days which have recorded windgusts of 80k/h or more.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the band of windy days in the 1960s is visible again (and the big gap for Blatchford is 20 years of missing data from 1995-2015).

As we saw in Part 4, in recent years the International averages about 3 days with 80km/h+ gusts each year, and Blatchford is at about 1 or 2 per year.

Gusts of 100km/h or more

And finally, here are gusts of 100km/h+, which is a fairly short list.

In recent years Blatchford had gusts of 102km/h on July 20, 2015. The International had gusts of 100km/h on May 24, 2017; of 106km/h on January 15, 2014; and of 111km/h on August 15, 2015. 

And Edmonton's gustiest and windiest day was October 1, 1965 with hourly windspeeds of 87km/h and gusts up to 146km/h

One thing to notice here is that the gusty days don't necessarily have high hourly windspeeds:

• July 20, 2015 at Blatchford recorded gusts of 102km/h but its highest hourly windspeed was only 28km/h.
• August 15, 2015 at the International recorded gusts of 111km/h its highest hourly windspeed was only 26km/h.

Winds Again

Here we have another look at the maximum windspeed each day for the International. If you move the slider around for windspeeds of 0km/h, 20km/h, 40km/h, 60km/h... we can again see the windy 1960s, and also how relatively quiet August is.

Gusts Again

And finally, one more look at wind gusts. These were mostly just an excuse to play with a new type of chart.

And with that we are getting close to the end of our extensive look at wind, although there are still a few more posts and a few more fancy charts to go.

Continued in Wind Part 6: Windy Months