2017-2018 Coldsnaps So Far

Today is the end of a short coldsnap, so we're going to check-in and see how the winter of 2017-2018 compares so far.

This is a followup to Coldsnaps & Deepfreezes from last year. And if you're interested in Edmonton's historic deepfreezes, please see It was the winter of '69.

Lows Below -20°C

This chart shows all of the days with Low temperatures below -20°C, going back to the unusually cold winter of 2010-2011. The number are how many continuous days were below -20°C.

This most recent coldsnap felt like it lasted forever, but it was really only 5 days. Looking back through recent years 5-6 days is a pretty typical length.

Between Christmas and New Year's this year we had 9 days with Lows below -20°C, and the last time we had a coldsnap that long was back in Dec/Jan 2010-2011.

So far this winter we've had 14 days below -20°C, and the average is about 23. We've already passed low winters like 2015-2016 with 6 and 2011-2012 with 10, but still have a long way to go before we catch 2010-2011 which had 48.

Lows Below -25°C

In our two coldsnaps so far this winter we've had 9 Lows below -25°C, which isn't a huge number, but which is more than most of the years here. The only recent winters with more were 2010-2011 with 16 and 2013-2014 with 17.

Highs Below -20°C

This year our two coldsnaps have also included two 3-day stretches of Highs below -20°C, and we hadn't had one of those since January 2012. And with 6 Highs below -20°C so far we're already above all these other years, except for 2010-2011.

Normally Highs below -20°C happen in December or January, but both 2011 and 2014 had 2 each in early March.

Highs Above 0°C

For a change of pace, here are our warm days so far, with Highs above 0°C. The numbers here are a little messy to read, but that's a good thing because it means that there are lots of them.

The 15 straight Highs above freezing that we just had in December was the longest mid-winter streak of all the years here. And with 32 days above freezing so far we're about halfway to the average.

Highs Above 5°C

And finally, here we have the days with Highs above 5°C. We'll hopefully see quite a few more of these as we get closer to spring, but with 13 so far we've almost caught 2012-2013. The 7-day streak in December was again on the long side of things for the middle of winter.