Absolute Zero (...cm of snow)

Yesterday, March 29th, the Edmonton International Airport hit 0cm of snow for the first time this winter. Last week we'd talked about when it first dropped to "trace" amounts, but now it's actually, officially at 0cm.

So lets take a quick look at that - with the caveat that we'll almost always get some snow in April, and we get snow in May about half of the time. But those spring snowfalls usually don't last long.

Snowdepth Compared to "Average"

Here we have the snowdepth throughout the winter, compared to the average. It was a low-snow winter, reaching a maximum depth of 18cm in early January, which was about average for a very short period of time. But then it dropped, and dropped again, and by the end of February we were almost at zero. March was quite snowy, which pushed things back up to 15cm on March 12th, but that quickly melted. By March 21st we'd hit "trace" amounts, and about a week later on the 29th we hit 0cm.

1995-2017

Here's a more direct comparison of the winter of 2016-2017 to recent winters. We can see the week that we spent at trace amounts, before finally dropping to 0cm.

The last three winters have all been relatively low, and have hit 0cm for the first time fairly early. In comparison 2010-2011, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 were are quite snowy, which we looked at in more detail earlier in Snowdepth - Part 2 - The Big Melt.

The Melts

This is a comparison that shows how the snowdepth drops off each winter. 2016-2017 was fairly quick, falling from 15cm on March 13, to trace amounts on the 21st, to 0cm on the 29th.

I'd mentioned earlier that spring snow disappears quickly, and we can see that here with the little blips in April and May, which usually don't amount to much.

History

Finally, here is a look at the entire recorded history of snowdepth for the International Airport.

Reaching 0cm on March 29 makes 2016-2017 the 8th earliest winter, and just behind 2014-2015 which was in 7th with March 28. So the last 3 winters have all been very early, but our 5-Year average is still later than it was during the 1980s. From 1981-1995 almost all of the winters (with the exception of 1982 and 1989) had melts in late March or the first week of April.

What does 0cm look like?

March 22 - Trace Amounts

March 30 - Officially 0cm

I haven't been out to the airport recently, so I don't know how things look out there right now. It's not always going to be the best match for the city though.

So this is what things look like in town, with a comparison of the trace amounts of snow that we had on March 22, to what is now left on the 30th. While there is still some snow hanging around, it has receded a lot in the last week. The snow that's left is all in the shadows, and unfortunately that means the river valley trails will still be a soupy mess for awhile, yet.