May 2025 Review

May 2025 ended on a hot note, so let's take a look back at Edmonton weather for the month.

May 2025 was pretty warm, but not as extreme as 2023 (#1) or 2018 (#2). 

The average High of 20.5°C was the 9th warmest on record, and average Low of 7.6°C was 5th warmest.





High Temperatures

May 2025 had 23 above-average Highs, and 8 below-average. It started and ended really warm, with a bit of a cool down in the middle. 

May 29th's 32.7°C set a daily record, and was the 3rd hottest May High on record. 

The coldest High was 11.1°C on the 21st.

May averages 10 20°C Highs, and in 2025 we got 16. 

We average 3 25°C days, and got 7. 

And we got 3 30°C days, which is the most since 1986's 4. 

May also averages 3 Highs below 10°C, and 2025 had none.





Hot Days

By the end of May we average 15 20°C Highs. 2025 is a bit above that with 18, but well below 2023's 25 & 2018's 27. 

Our 3 30°C Highs are the 4th most on record, behind 1986, 1936 & 1928 which all got to 4. Recently 2023 & 1995 had 2 by this point.





Records

May 29th's High of 32.7°C was our second daily record of 2025, following February 22nd's 12.5°C. 

A typical year might set around 3 new records Highs. But recently 2021 & 2022 had 5, 2023 had 6, and 2024 had 11.

May 29th's 32.7°C was our 3rd hottest May temperature on record. It was our earliest 32°C day since 1986. Between 1986 & 2025 the earliest that we'd gotten to 32°C was almost a month later, on June 26th in 2002 & 2021.



Low Temperatures

May 2025 had 25 above-average Lows, and only 6 which were below average. 

But one of those snuck in as a relatively late frost at -0.8°C on May 16th.

In May we average around 2 below-freezing Lows, although a lot of years don't have any (2022-2024, 2020, 2017-2018, 2011-2013, etc). The final frost on May 16 was fairly late. But 2025 also had a Low above 15°C, with 18°C on May 29th.



Final Spring Frost

Blatchford's average date for final spring frost is May 5th. It seemed like 2025 would be early like 2020 (April 19th), 2023 (April 22nd) & 2024 (April 20). 

But then May 16th gave us another one. So 2025 is a pretty late year like 2021 (May 21st) & 2015 (May 17th).

Stony Plain missed the May 16th frost, so their final frost was April 28th. At the airport and Campsie their last frost was May 16th, so they might be done for the year, but June frosts aren't impossible there.



Warm & Cold Months

May 2025 gets a medium sized orange bubble. 

The average High of 20.5°C was 3°C warmer than the 20th century average. The average Low of 7.6°C was 2.9°C warmer.

The last time that we had a warm March-April-May like this was maybe 2016, or maybe even 2001.



Across Canada

Across the country March-April-May have been mostly above-average. 

For May the 2 exceptions were Dawson City & Quebec City with Highs -0.5°C cooler than their 20th century average. 

Winnipeg was the most above-average, at 4.8°C above their 20th century average.

Somewhat unusually, Edmonton final frost on May 16th was later than most of the prairie cities. Calgary's final frost on April 28th was their 2nd earliest on record, just behind 2023's April 26th.



Snow

In May we average 6cm of snowfall. 

In 2025 we got 0cm, following 0cm in April. 

The Airport has only gone snowless in April-May in 1998, and now 2025. When Blatchford recorded snow it had a snowless April-May in 2005, 1998, 1988, 1949 & 1905.

By the end of the winter Edmonton averages 120cm of total snowfall. 

 After the snowfree April-May the winter of 2024-2025 was a little low at 105cm. 

But recently we've had lower winters, like 77cm in 2023-2024, 75cm in 2022-2023, and 53cm in 2015-2016.

At the end of the winter Charlottetown takes the top spot with 450cm of snow, which is a little below average. St. John's was the only city here with snow in May, adding 3cm to reach 251cm. Calgary was the biggest outlier, with 83.5cm as a bottom-10 year.



Precipitation

May is normally when our summer storm season kicks off, and we definitely got some this year, but not a lot. We average 49mm of precipitation. Stony Plain got close with 44mm, but the airport had 31mm and Blatchford had 26mm. Campsie (100km NW) was up at 77mm.

May averages 11 days with precipitation. Even with the low rainfall Blatchford and the airport both had 12 days, Stony Plain had 10, and Campsie way up at 17 days.

By the end of May we average around 125mm of precipitation for the year.

By the end of May we average around 125mm of precipitation for the year.

Blatchford and the airport are a little low, with 111mm & 106mm.

These are the precipitation totals for 2025 so far across the country.

Edmonton and the prairie cities are all down around 100mm, while St. John's & Halifax are heading towards 500mm (which is below average for both of them).



Big Storms

Around Edmonton May's biggest storms were: 

• Blatchford 7.9mm on May 26th
• Stony Plain 11.8mm on May 20th 
• Airport 15mm on May 20th 
• Campsie 28.9mm on May 21st

Across the country the biggest May storms were: 

• Charlottetown 28.8mm on May 23rd 
• Halifax 23.9mm on May 7th 
• Quebec City 23.3mm on May 18th 
• Winnipeg 21.7mm on May 15th

June

In June usually about half of the Highs are above 20°C, with maybe a week above 25°C. The last time that Blatchford had a June frost was 1942. But we've had snow in June in 2011, 1967, 1922 and 1888.