November Review / December Preview

Daytime Highs

After our little heatwave at the beginning of the month the High temperatures dropped down to right around the 20-year average.

With 9 days above 10°C this November had more than any year going back to 1997. But the average high of 5°C was a little bit lower than November of 2009, which was more consistently warm for the whole month and which didn't have a single High below 0.

Daytime Lows

After the heatwave the Low temperatures had a similar drop, but still stayed about 5°C above the average through the end of the month.

With 9 nights above 0°C, none below -10°C, and an average overnight low of -2°C this November had the warmest lows, going back to 1997.

This was also the first November since 2009 that didn't have any temperatures below -20°C. In the last 6 years those sudden blasts of real-winter have been a fixture of late November.

Precipitation

Overall precipitation for the month was right around the average. The Edmonton International is missing snowfall records for this month, but in the downtown area we didn't get more that a light dusting all month. Downtown did, however, get a few genuine November downpours.

December

For December, looking at the High temperatures about half of the time we can see a fair number of oranges, for temperatures above 0°C or even 5°C. And not surprisingly, we also see some blues for highs below -10°C or even -20°C. But really, there's a lot of orange in there, isn't there?

For the Low temperatures, December nights above 0°C are pretty rare: 2014, 2011, 2004, 2002, 1999 all had some. And lows below -20°C are almost a given, with the only years without them being 2011, 2002, and 1997.

Warmest-Recorded-Year

Finally, with one month left in the race, 2016 is still in the lead for warmest-recorded-year. The heatwave at the beginning of November was enough to undo the coldsnap of early October, and right now things are very tight.

To gets "points" during the next month December doesn't have to be hot - it just has to be above the 20th century average which is about -6°C for the High and -15°C for the Low. Days that are warmer than that will send the line up, and colder days will drop it down.

December of 1981 was warm, but then its final week really dropped off with several days around -30°C. And right now our forecast for next week is calling for some -20°C's. So we might have to wait until New Year's to know exactly where 2016 will end up.