2021 Year-in-Review Part 4: Snow

And finally we have reached the end of our 2021 Year-in-Review Part 4: Snow! How was the snow in Edmonton and other Canadian cities last year?

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

 
(the Blatchford weather station near downtown Edmonton no longer records snowfall or snowdepth, so most of the numbers today will be from the International Airport.)

Monthly Snow

Here we have the snow for each month (including during the summer). 2021's only snowier-than-average months were May (9cm) and December (31cm). February and November were close to average, while January, March and April were all well below average.

 

Total Snow

This chart has the cumulative snow for year (it looks a little strange because it includes the summer months). 

The gist is that we average about 120cm of snow each year, and in 2021 we only recorded 90cm. So it was low, but not super-low.

 

Snow Across Canada

For these cities across Canada Edmonton's 90cm was 2nd lowest, after Vancouver with 29cm. Toronto, Calgary and Winnipeg were all just over 100cm. Montréal and Ottawa were around 170cm. St. John's was at the top with almost 300cm.

For comparison, here are the monthly snow totals for Edmonton, Calgary, Montréal and St. John's. 

St. John's and Montréal get more snow than Edmonton and Calgary, but it's mostly all crammed into December-March.

 

Last & First Snowfalls

This is a comparison of the snow seasons, with Edmonton and Calgary starting around October 1st and lasting through May 1st. Montréal and St. John's both start in early November, but Montréal's average final snowfall is mid-April while St. John's is mid-May.

 

The Spring Melt

Edmonton had an early spring melt in 2021, with the snow mostly gone (even at the airport) by mid-March, when the average is closer to mid-April.

This one is a little messy, but it shows the spring 2021 snow depths for other cities, and Montréal, Ottawa and St. John's all hung onto their snow a few weeks longer than Edmonton and Calgary (although Alberta did get some late-spring snow which melted off quickly).

 

Fall Snow

Around Edmonton for fall snow the mid-November storm kicked things off, and then the cold and snowy December pushed all of the stations up to 30cm. The average for the end of December is around 14cm.

A messy chart again, but at the end of the year Edmonton's 30cm of snowdepth (in blue) was way out ahead of the pack. Winnipeg and Calgary were around 13cm, while the rest all below 10cm.

 

Snowdepth During the Year

And this is just an example of the snowdepth during a calendar year, with Edmonton as typically the most consistent from November through March or April.

 

Snowstorms

For big, 10cm+ snowstorms 2021 only recorded 2, and they were both in the fall. On November 15 and 16 the International recorded a total of 12.8cm, and on December 13 and 14 there were 14.6cm.

For really big 20cm+ storms (over 2 days):

• Winnipeg had a 23cm storm in April
• Montréal had a 25.2cm storm in January, and 21cm storm in February
• Ottawa had a 21.4cm storm in January, and 22.8cm in February
• St. John's had a 25.2cm storm in January, and 21cm in February

And that finally brings us to the end of our long look back at the weather for 2021. As always, all of these charts are interactive dashboards with data for 9 Canadian cities.