January 2019 Review / February 2019 Preview

It's time for the January 2019 month-in-review. Was this January warm, or cold, or not too warm or not too cold? Let's find out.


High Temperatures

Here we have the High temperatures for January, compared to the range of Highs since 1996.

January 2019 set one warmest-High-since-1880 record on January 2nd at 8.6°C, and had two more warmest-since-1996 days on January 26th & 27th.

For most of the month the Highs were above average, although there were a few cooler days around the middle of the month.

Looking at the numbers, the average High was -1.9°C. That's quite warm, but is below recent years like 2014 at -1.8°C, 2006 at -0.4°C, or 2001 at 1.7°C.

We had 4 Highs of 5°C or more, which is average for January. We also had 14 Highs of 0°C, compared to an average of 12. On the cold side of things we only had 1 High of -15°C or colder, while the average is 5.


Low Temperatures

Like the High temperatures, the Lows spent most of the month above the average. January 2nd also set a warmest-Low-since-1880 record at 1.2°C, and the Low of 2.7°C on January 26th was the warmest-since-1996.

In January 2019 we had 2 Lows above freezing. That is not unheard of, but it is pretty rare. In the last 20 years 2015 had 3 Lows above freezing, 2014 had 3, 2013 had 1, and 2002 had 1, and that was it.

This January we had 4 Lows of -20°C or colder, while the average is 8. We also didn't have any Lows of -25°C, and in the last 20 years that had only happened in 2006 and 2001. So it was a mostly deepfreeze-free month.

Coldsnaps

The forecast for next week is calling for some very cold days, but as-of January 31st this has been a pretty mild winter so far. We have had 5 Lows hit -20°C, and none hit -25°C. So far that is fewer than any winters going back to 2010...although we will wait until the end of March to see how this winter really scores.


Warm & Cold January's

When we add up the High & Low temperatures, January 2019 was the 16th warmest since 1880. During the 20th century the average mean daily temperature for January was -13.5°C, and this year we were up at -6.7°C.

January's records are kindof amazing:

• Edmonton's coldest January in 1950 had a mean temperature of -27.8°C. The average Low for January 1950 was -32.4°C, compared to -11.5°C this year.
• Edmonton's warmest January in 2001 had a mean temperature of -2.7°C, and an average High of 1.7°C.

The gap between those records is huge.

Looking back at the past few months, our quite-warm January follows a pretty-warm December and November. And lets agree not to talk about October or September.

Over the past 20 years most of our January's have been warmer than the 20th century average - they appear as the row of orange bubbles at the bottom of this chart. The only recent January which was colder than the 20th century average was 2004.

February's have also generally been warmer than the 20th century average - the exceptions being 2001, 2007, 2011, 2014, & 2018. Since last February was quite cold maybe we will be lucky this year.

We looked at the way some months have warmed more than others in The Months through the Years.


Snow

For snowfall at the International January had 15cm, compared to an average of about 21cm. That was down from the 31cm that we had in December, but it was a perfect match for the 15cm in December 2018.


Snowdepth

The warm temperatures of the last few days have dropped the snowdepth at the International down to 16cm.

The average for this time of year is around 20cm, although as I type this there is a snowfall warning in effect, so things are likely going to change rapidly. The end of January was when things changed last winter too, with the snowdepth jumping from 8cm to 34cm over the course of a week.


January Rain

We also had some rain this month on the 25th and 27th. January rain always seems to surprise people, even though it's not particularly uncommon.

With a total of 0.9mm this was not a particularly rainy January. Recently 2014-2016 all had around 3~4mm, and 2005 was the International's 2nd-rainiest January with 9.5mm.


February Temperatures

For February temperatures, they are usually a lot like January with 10-15 Highs above 0, and 5 Lows below -20°C. Since 2000 there have only been two -30°C in February - one was last year on February 4th, and the other was February 9th, 2008. February is also on-average the least-snowy of the main winter months.