March 2024 Review

It's time for our big look back at Edmonton weather for March 2024.

It's probably not surprising to learn that March 2024 was a little cool.

The average High of 0.7°C was our 76th warmest on record. The average Low of -9°C was 64th warmest. 

However, it was warmer than 2023 & 2020.



High Temperatures

March 2024 started cold, got pretty warm for a week or so, and then was pretty cool but not really cold.

14 Highs were above our 30-year average, and 17 were below.

March averages:

• 20 Highs above-freezing, and 2024 had 16. 
• 13 Highs of 5°C, and 2024 had 13. 
• 4 Highs of 10°C, and 2024 had 6. 

March got to 16.2°C on the 18th, making this only the 7th March since 2000 to reach 15°C.


Low Temperatures

For the Lows, March 2024 started really cold, warmed up and set two new records on the 15th and 18th, and then cooled back down to around average. 

12 Lows were above average, and 19 were below.

March averages 2~3 Lows of -20°C, and 2024 had 5. And that included -27.2°C on the 6th.

We hadn't gotten to -25°C in March since 2019, and hadn't gotten to -20°C since 2020. 

We also had 4 above-freezing Lows, when the average is around 3.



Cold Winter Days

Hopefully we've seen the end of our deepfreezes this winter. 

In a winter we average around 25 Lows of -20°C, and this winter had 19.

For -25°C Lows we average around 10, and this winter had 8. 

And we had 5 Lows of -30°C, when we average around 4.



Warm & Cold Months

March 2024's High of 0.7°C was -0.3°C colder than the 20th century average, and is a tiny blue dot here. 

The Low of -9°C was 0.5°C warmer, and is a small orange dot.

That follows a warm February and pretty average January.



Across Canada

March 2024 was cool~ish for the Alberta & Saskatchewan cities, but warm everywhere else. 

Ottawa was at the top. Their average High of 7.2°C was 5.6°C warmer than their 20th century average. 

On the other end Calgary's 0.8°C was 2°C colder than their 20th century average.



Cold Days Across Canada

At the end of March Winnipeg had 16 Lows of -20°C, when they average 37. 

That's their 2nd lowest on record, and is only the 3rd time they've had fewer than Edmonton (1955-56 & 1931-32). 

But the Alberta & Saskatchewan cities were also below their averages.



The Horserace

2023 was Edmonton's warmest year on record, but 3 months into 2024 we're only a bit warmer than our 20th century average.

With the cool January & March our Highs are the 56th warmest and the Lows are 42nd warmest, for the 45th warmest year overall.

While 2024 has had a cool start in Edmonton, for the Ontario & Quebec cities the Highs have been some of the warmest on record, and Winnipeg is top-10.



Snow

In March we average 19cm of snow, and 2024 got close with 17cm.

March averages 9 days with snow, and 2024 had 6.

By the end of March we average 99cm of snowfall, and so far in 2024 we're at 61.4cm.

We're probably not done yet, though. We average another 14cm in April, and 5cm in May.

Across the country Edmonton's 61cm is still below Toronto's 67cm. 

Charlottetown and St. John's are up at the top near 350cm. 

And Calgary's 160cm puts it well ahead of Montréal's 147cm.

In March Calgary got 68.4cm of snow, which was their 2nd snowiest March behind 70.3cm in 1998. They average another 30cm in April & May.



Snowstorms

Our biggest snowdays this March were all just 3~4cm, on the 2nd, 20th, 21st & 28th.

Across the country the big March snow storms were:

• St. John's with 72.2cm on the 7th-9th.
• Calgary with 36.3cm over 4 days from the 20-23rd, and 22cm on the 1st & 2nd.

Snowdepth

At the end of March our average snowdepth is 10cm, although a lot of years are at 0cm by that point. 

This year the airport, Stony Plain & Campsie were all snowfree by March 15th, but the late snow bumped things back up for a few days.

Around Edmonton during the winter we usually have snow on the ground for roughly 140 days in-a-row.

But 2023-2024 was a really short winter for us. Stony Plain's longest stretch with snowdepth was 21 days. And the airport's will be around 70 days.

Overall this winter our snowdepth was pretty low. It didn't really get started until mid-January, and for most stations it peaked at around 20cm in mid-March.

Across the country, the cities which still had snow on the ground on March 31st were: 

• Dawson City at 46cm 
• Quebec City at 11cm 
• Calgary at 8cm 
• Saskatoon at 7cm 
• Edmonton at 2cm

The big snowdepth cities this winter were in the east. 

• St. John's peaked at 82cm, which isn't all that unusual. 
• Halifax got to 96cm, which hadn't happened since 2016-2017. 
• Charlottetown got to 56cm and Moncton got to 45cm, which are fairly typical.

April

For April, on average we only get 3 Highs below 0°C, although 2022, 2020 & 2018 started quite cold. 

Most Aprils reach 20°C, and 2001, 2015, 2016 & 2018 all got to 25°C. 

But April still gets lots of Lows below freezing, and averages 14cm of snow.

February 2024 Review

Another interesting month, and another month-in-review - let's take a big look back at February 2024.

Even with the late deepfreeze, February 2024's average High of -0.7°C was our 27th warmest on record. The average Low of -10°C was 16th warmest.



High Temperatures

February 2024 started warm, and then spent several weeks barely above average. 

Then a brief heatwave, including a new record of 11.2°C on February 23rd. 

And then right into a deepfreeze. 

20 Highs were above our 30-year average, and 9 were below.

In February we average 11 Highs above-freezing, and 2024 had 14. February averages 4 Highs of 5°C, and 2024 had 7. 

And February had 2 Highs reach 10°C. Recently 2017 had 3, and 2016 had 2.



Warm Winter Days

For the 91 days from December-February we had 49 Highs reach 0°C (54%), which is tied for 4th most on record.

That included 19 Highs that got to 5°C (21%), and 4 at 10°C (4%).



Low Temperatures

For the Lows, February 2024 was warm to start, and then really average until the brief heatwave, followed by the brief deepfreeze. 

20 Lows were above average, and 9 were below.

February can certainly be a month of deepfreezes, averaging 6 Lows of -20°C, including 2 of -25°C. 

This year it went a little easy on us, with just 3 -20°C Lows, and the coldest was -23.5°C. 

The last time that February didn't reach -25°C was 2016.



Cold Winter Days

So far this winter we have had 14 Lows reach -20°C, when the average at the end of February is around 22.

We've had 7 -25°C Lows, while the average is around 11, and 5 -30°C Lows compared to an average of 4.



Deepfreeze Season

We're getting close to the end of our deepfreeze season, but we're not quite there yet. 

The likelihood of -20°C Lows and even -25°C Lows stays pretty high until around March 10th. After that they're still possible, but are much more rare.



Warm & Cold Months

January 2024's temperatures were pretty close to our 20th century. But February was above average, even with its little deepfreeze. The High of -0.7°C was 4.1°C warmer than the 20th century average, and the Low of -10°C was 5.2°C warmer.



Across Canada

February 2024 was fairly warm across the country, and especially in Winnipeg. Their High of -2.4°C was 7.3°C warmer than their 20th century average, and their Low of -10.5°C was 9.9°C warmer.

Winnipeg started February with 6 new records for warmest-Lows, following 3 more at the end of January. This has been their warmest start to a year on record.



Cold Days Across Canada

At the end of February Winnipeg has only had 14 Lows of -20°C, when they average 37. Regina & Saskatoon are also well below their average, along with Calgary & Edmonton.



Snow

In February we average 14cm of snow, and the late storm pushed 2024 over that to 20.9cm. This is the first time that we've had a snowier-than-average month since November 2022.

By the end of February we average 79cm of snowfall. The late storm pushed us up to 44.4cm.

Over a whole winter our average is around 120cm, but for March-May we average another 40cm.

Across the country Edmonton has finally recorded more snow than Vancouver's 37cm, but we're still below Toronto's 49cm.

Charlottetown is at the top over 320cm, and Halifax & St. John's are both getting close to 250cm.



Snowstorms

Our biggest snowday of February, and of the winter so far, was 8.4cm on February 25th.

Combined with the 26th the 2-day total was 15.8cm. 15cm+ is a pretty big storm, and some winters have more than one of those, but a lot of winters don't have any.

Our 15cm storm at the end of the month felt like a lot, but: 

• Charlottetown had 60.4cm on February 3rd, and 125cm total this month. 
• Halifax had 84cm on February 2nd-4th, and 134cm total.

Snowdepth

At the end of February we average 21cm of snowdepth. 

Late in the month Campsie and Stony Plain were at 0cm, and the airport was down to 2cm. 

But the big storm pushed Campsie to 3cm, the airport to 13cm, Stony Plain to 15cm, and Elk Island to 27cm.

On average our big spring melt starts after the first week of March.

Some years are early, and can be snowfree well before the end of March. But others like 2020 or 2018 can hang on until mid-April.

Across the country, Halifax's snowdepth got to 96cm, and St. John's reached 82cm. Charlottetown got to 58cm, Dawson City spent most of the month around 55cm, and Moncton got to 45cm.



March

March averages 20 days with Highs above freezing, and we often start to hit 10°C. It also averages about 3 -20°C Lows, though. 

 March's average snowfall is 20cm, which is pretty typical for our winter months.

January 2024 Review

It's time for our big look back at January 2024, which was a, shall we say interesting, month?

After our extremely warm November and record-breaking December, January 2024 was a little chilly.

The average High of -8.7°C ranked as our 82nd warmest, and coldest since 2004.

The average Low of -17°C was 68th warmest, and slightly warmer than 2020.



High Temperatures

January 2024's Highs started warm, but the deepfreeze kicked in from the 10th through 17th, and cool temperatures lingered for another week after that. Then the end was ridiculously warm, including a new record of 12.4°C for January 30th. 17 Highs were below our 30-year average, and 14 were above.

In January we average 12 Highs above-freezing, and 2024 had 9. January averages 4 Highs of 5°C, and 2024 had 5, including 2 that reached 10°C. 

On the other hand, we had 2 Highs reach -30°C, and 2004 was the last time that we had one of those.

This chart is a bit cramped, but January 2024 was our first January on record with Highs of both -30°C and 10°C. And it had 2 of each.

(December 1884 also had Highs from -30°C to 10°C, and so did February 1884, 1893 & 1936.)



Low Temperatures

For the Lows, January 2024 had a mild start and warm end. But we were below -20°C from the 9th through 19th, including the 12th through 14th below -36°C.

15 Lows were below average (with 4 as the coldest in 30+ years), and 16 were above.

January had 11 Lows below -20°C, when we average around 8. That included 7 below -25°C, with 5 below -30°C, and 3 of those were below -35°C.

In recent years 2020 had 4 -30°C Lows. Going further back 1997 had 6, and 1996 had 9. The most -35°C Lows was 2 in 1997.

January 2024 recorded temperatures from -37.7°C to 12.4°C, for a range of 50.1°C.

This is the first January to cover move than 50°C since 1943. 1884 & 1922 have the record, with a 53.9°C range.



The Great Deepfreeze

January's deepfreeze was pretty unusual, and it's tough to cover all of it: 

It was our first -30°C High since 2004, and the first winter with 2 -30°C Highs since 1992.

And actually, it was our first -31°C High since 1989, and the only year with 2 of them since 1954.

January 14th's Low of -37.7°C was only our 3rd -37°C since 1972. January 15th, 2020 was -37.6°C, and January 19th, 1996 was -37.8°C.

The 3 Lows of -36°C were the most since 1972. The only recent year with more than 1 was February 1989 with 2.

January 2024 had:

• 4 Highs in-a-row of -27°C which is the most since 1969. 
• 6 Highs in-a-row of -20°C which tied 2020. 2021 had 7. 
• 3 Lows in-a-row of -36°C tying 1972. 
• 5 Lows in-a-row of -34°C tying 1969.
• 11 Lows in-a-row of -20°C (2019 had 18)

During the deepfreeze there were lots of -40°Cs around town. 

Stony Plain's last -40°C was 1977, but this year had 3, and the airport had 5. 

The airport recorded 3 Lows of -45°C in-a-row, which it had never done before. And its 5 Lows of -40°C in-a-row tied 1969.

The airport's Highs of -34.4°C & -34.3°C on the 12th & 14th were the coldest ever recorded there. 

And the Lows on the 12th, 13th & 14th ranked as its 3rd, 5th & 6th ever recorded.

So this deepfreeze rewrote the airport's (relatively short) history books.

And the deepfreeze wasn't just us.

Calgary, Kelowna, Vancouver, and even Victoria were all down at or near historic records.

Saskatoon & Regina also got really cold, but not quite at the level of coldest-in-50+ years.



Warm & Cold Months

The last time that Edmonton had a "cold" January that was below our 20th century average was 2004. 

2024's High of -8.7°C was right on the 20th century average.

The Low of -17°C managed to sneak above the 20th century average by 1.3°C.



The Horserace

If you recall, 2023 was Edmonton's warmest year on record, at 3.3°C above the 20th century average. 

After 1 month of 2024 we're sitting right on the average, because the deepfreeze and heatwave basically cancelled each other out.



Across Canada

January 2024's deepfreeze didn't really make it to Winnipeg, so the month was cool in the west, and fairly warm east of Saskatchewan. Winnipeg was actually the most above-average of all of the cities here.



Snow

In January we average 20cm of snow, and 2024 got close with 15.6cm. That follows an extremely low December, November & October.

By the end of January we average 66cm of snowfall, and so far we've only had 23.5cm.

There's still lots of winter to go, though. We average another 55cm between now and May.

We have a few new cities in the Canada-wide snowtracker.

I used to think that St. John's was snowy, but Charlottetown is already up over 200cm (and they average around 600cm each winter).

Also notable: Vancouver's 36cm of snow so far this winter is substantially more than Edmonton's 23.5cm.

36.2cm was their snowiest January since 2002.

(we average another ~55cm before spring, but they're mostly done for the winter)



Snowstorms

Our biggest snowstorm of January, and of the winter so far, was 8.2cm on January 9th. The 10th had another 2.2cm, so the 2-day total was 10.4cm

Across the country:

• Moncton had the biggest day, with 36cm on January 23rd 
• Calgary had 34cm on the 27th 
• St. John's had 32cm on the 21st 
• Charlottetown had 3 20cm+ days, including 28cm on the 10th 
• Montréal had 22cm on the 25th.

Snowdepth

At the end of January we average 20cm of snowdepth.

Earlier in the month the stations were all just over 10cm, but after the warm end to January they've all dropped: Stony Plain has 0cm, the airport has 2cm, Campsie has 3cm, and Elk Island has 6cm.

0~ish cm of snowdepth at this time of year is pretty unusual, and we need to go back to 2006 or 2001 to find something similar.

Across the country, Dawson City has the most snow on the ground, with 52cm.

The prairie cities are all close to 0cm.

The eastern cities are mostly above that, with Quebec City at the top with 31cm.



February

Our February temperatures are often a lot like January, with 10~15 Highs above 0°C, and 5 Lows below -20°C. 

But recently February 2021 & 2019 both had huge deepfreezes.

On average February is the least snowy main winter month, with about 14cm.