April 2026 Review

So we've reached the end of March 2026 and it's time for...wait, what?? That was actually April?

Oh. Hmmm. 

Well then, I guess it's time for our big look back at Edmonton's weather for March April 2026.

So yes, April 2026 was cold.

The average High of 8.3°C was the 111th warmest on record. The average Low of -2.6°C was 105th. 

That's in the same range as 2020 & 2018, and warmer than 2013.

And that's about 6°C warmer than a typical March.

April is a rare month (along with October) that hasn't warmed up much over the past century.

Its average Lows have crept up by 2°C, while its Highs have actually gotten slightly colder.

In comparison, January is up by 8-10°C, and even July is up by 2-4°C.



High Temperatures

April's Highs were all over the place, ranging from 23.3°C on the 30th to -2.1°C on the 25th (our 3rd coldest on record). 

Overall 11 Highs were above average. 19 were below average, and 3 of those were the coldest in 30 years.

April 2026 had 3 Highs get to 20°C, when we average 2. But April also averages 16 10°C Highs, and we only got 11.

It had 2 below-freezing Highs, which is average. But one of those was in the final week. Recently only 2013, 2008 & 2005 got that cold, that late.

A "funny" thing about this spring is that it just hasn't been able to string together more than a few warm days in-a-row.

January had 6 5°C Highs in-a-row, and February had 12.

But since spring started we've only had a few here or there, then a 6 day stretch, and then freezing temperatures again. So winter felt more like spring than spring has.

This is just a comparison of the March-April Highs from 2026 to some of our colder recent springs, like 2020, 2013 & 2002.

2002 had our 2nd coldest March-April on record, and the average High was 5°C colder than this year.



Low Temperatures

April's Lows didn't have a huge range, from -8.5°C on the 1st up to 2.9°C on the 20th. 

Overall 12 Lows were above average, and 18 were below, including 4 which were the coldest in 30 years.

April averages 14 above-freezing Lows, and in 2026 we only got 6. 

Sometimes April starts off really cold, like -21°C in 2020 & -18°C in 2020. While 2026 wasn't warm, its coldest Low was only -8.5°C.



Final Frost

The average date of Blatchford's final frost is one week away, on May 6th. 

2025's was pretty late on May 16st, while 2024, 2023 & 2020 were all done around April 20th. 

Stony Plain's average is May 10th, while the airport's is May 25th.



Warm & Cold Months

April 2026 gets a medium blue/cold bubble, because the average High of 8.3°C was -2.3°C colder than the 20th century average. And the average Low of -2.6°C was -1.2°C colder. 

So April & March weren't warm. Other years with cool springs were 2020, 2018, 2017, 2014, 2013...



Across Canada

Across the country April was cold on the prairies (and St. John's), and warmish everywhere else.

That ranged from Saskatoon with Highs -3.9°C below their 20th century average, to Kelowna at 2.4°C above theirs.



Daily Highs on the Prairies

As much as Edmonton's spring has been underwhelming, all of the prairie cities have been pretty chilly. Since the start of spring Saskatoon has set 3 record for coldest daily Highs.



Snow

April averages 13cm of snow, and we almost always get at least a bit.

2026 was just above average with with 14.8cm.

But April had 9 days with snow, when the average is only around 5.

By the end of April we average around 113cm of total snowfall.

This winter we're up to 133.5cm, which is our snowiest winter since 2018's 160cm.

Almost half of this year's snow was the 60cm from our very snowy December.

Everyone wants the snow to be over, but in May we do average another 5cm.

About half of the time May is snowfree. The other half will usually be done around the first week, but 2011 waited until June 4th.



Snow Across Canada

This messy chart is the snow totals across the country. 

St. John's is way out in the lead with 522cm, while its average is around 330cm. 

Charlottetown was next with 305cm, while its average is closer to 500cm. 

Toronto's 190cm was its 11th snowiest winter.

After a quiet start to winter, Calgary got 47.8cm of snow in March (7th snowiest) and 37.2cm in April (19th snowiest). Together that's their 5th snowiest March and April on record. It brings them to 148cm for the winter, which is right on average.

The biggest snow day of April 2026 was St. John's 18.6cm on the 4th, followed by Calgary's 15.2cm on the 2nd. Edmonton's biggest day was 5.4cm on the 7th.



Snowdepth

For snowdepth, the airport and Stony Plain both got to 0cm on the 9th, but then bounced back up for a few days after that late storms. Blatchford got to 0cm on the 20th, and Elk Island finally got there on the 29th.

It's tough to remember now, but the snow got a really late start this winter, waiting until November 28th.

But the final melt was about as late as we get, along with other late years like 2020, 2018 & 2013.

Across the country most cities hung onto their snow into April this year. So while Edmonton was late, we had lots of company.



May

For May we average a week or two above 20°C, and quite often we will reach 30°C.

About a third of the time our final frost is in April, but May often has a few of frosty nights.

And the airport recorded May snow in 2024. 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2015...