2021 Year-in-Review Part 1: Edmonton Temperatures

And now, what you've all been waiting for! It's time for our big look back at 2021 with our Year-in-Review Part 1: Edmonton Temperatures.

Our epic 2021 Year-in-Review has 4 Parts:

• Part 1: Edmonton Temperatures
• Part 2: Temperatures in Cities Across Canada
• Part 3: Precipitation
• Part 4: Snow

Let's get started with Edmonton's temperatures for 2021:

Warmest and Coldest Years

The big news is that Edmonton's average temperature for 2021 was the 10th warmest on record.

That is not as warm as 2016 (#3) or 2015 (#4), but is above 2020 (#29), 2019 (#56), 2018 (#36) and 2007-2014. February and December were the two notably below average months.

For the climate stripes scarf chart 2021 is a fairly dark pink. The last time that we had a blue stripe was back in 1996, at -1.7°C colder than the 20th century average.

As late as December 15th the temperatures for 2021 were in the #5 spot, but the long yearend deepfreeze knocked it down. At the end 2021's Highs were 12th warmest, the Lows were 18th warmest, and the two combined make it the 10th warmest overall.

 

Warm and Cold Months

For the months of 2021, February and December are the two notably cold, blue bubbles here. For mean temperatures 2021 had the #1 warmest June on record, #2 July, #10 March and #14 January. But it also had significant deepfreezes in both February and December.

 

High Temperatures

For 2021 we had 241 days with Highs above average, including 5 new records. June 30th's High of 37°C was Edmonton's 2nd warmest temperature ever recorded, behind 37.2°C June 29th, 1937.

There were only 124 below-average Highs, which included 1 record on July 18th (a smoke day). Most of the days here are red, but the February and December deepfreezes stand out with their long stretches of blue, including 13 days with Highs which were the coldest in 30 years.

2021 had 17 days reach 30°C, which is a new record. The previous record of 14. 

It also set new records for:

• 28°C days (32 days)
• 29°C (24 days)
• 31°C (15 days)
• 32°C (9 days)
• 34°C (4 days)
• 36°C (2 days)

2021 also set new records for the longest heatwave:

• 8 days in-a-row at 29°C
• 7 at 30°C 4 at 34°C
• 2 at 36°C

Since 1880 Edmonton has only reached 36°C 4 times, and 2 of them were June 29th & 30th, 2021.

 

Low Temperatures

For 2021 there were 212 days with Lows above average, including 14 new records. On July 1st we set a new record for Edmonton's warmest Low ever recorded, at 23.4°C.

The 153 below-average Lows didn't include set any new records, but 6 were the coldest in 30 years. And the February and December stand out here near the bottom of the 30-year range.

With big deepfreezes in February and December 2021 ends up with 35 Lows of -20°C, which is more than the average of about 25. Recently 2011 and 2009 both had 39, while 1996 was way up at 56.

2021 ended up with 16 Lows of -25°C, when we average about 10. Recently 2019 had 19, and 1996 had 38.

2021 also had 6 Lows reach -30°C, which is the most since 2009 with 6.

We hit -35°C in both 2021 and 2020, and the last time that happened in two years in a row was 2008 and 2009.

With a warmest High of 37°C, and a coldest Low of -35°C the range of temperatures recorded in 2021 was 72°C. That is the largest gap since 72.2°C in 1970. But the record for a calendar year is 80.5°C, set in 1936 and 1886 (it used to get a lot colder).

 

Frost-Free Days

The final frost of the spring was quite late on May 6th, while the first frost of fall was also quite late on October 7th. So 2021 ended up with 139 frost-free days, which is just below the average of 142.

 

Edmonton versus Calgary

And finally, a quick comparison of Edmonton and Calgary. 2021 is interesting because of the two deepfreezes. Both of the cities temperatures plunged in February and December, but that's also where some of the largest daily gaps ocurred between the two.

That's the end of Part 1 of our 2021 Year-in-Review. Part 2 will look at temperatures in cities across Canada. In Part 3 we will talk about Precipitation. And Part 4 will be all about snow.