October 2022 Review

It's time for our big look back at Edmonton's October 2022 weather.

October 2022's average High of 15.5°C ranked as 5th warmest since 1880. 1944 has the record with 16.4°C.

The average Low of 3.7°C was the 1st warmest, way ahead of 2.7°C from 1974.

August, September & October all had their warmest average Lows on record in 2022, with July as #3.

For Highs August, September & October were all top-5 (with July as a less impressive #27).



High Temperatures

October's Highs were mostly well above average, with just a few cool days from the 21st-25th. There were no new records, but 6 days were the warmest in 30 years. 

We end up with 25 days above average and 6 below.

In October we average about 2 Highs of 20°C. 2022 blew that away with 12, which tied the record for October.

October also averages 2 Highs below freezing, and 2022 had none. The coldest was 4.1°C on the 24th.



Warm Days

October 2022 had 12 Highs which reached 20°C, which tied 1923 for the record. In recent years the most had been 2006 & 2003 with 6.

For the whole year 2022 had 118 Days reach 20°C. That is the 3rd most on record, behind 1897 & 1898 which both had 122. Recently 2017 reached 111, and just getting to 100 is quite a bit.



Low Temperatures

For October 2022's Lows only 4 were below average, compared to 27 above. October 10th set a new record warmest-Low at 10.4°C.

October averages about 13 Lows below 0°C, and 2022 had 5. 

October also averages 3 Lows below -5°C. 2022 had none, which also happened in 2011, 2007, 1999, 1998.



Frost-Free Days

Blatchford & Stony Plain both set new records for the latest first frost of the fall, on October 23rd.

Blatchford's old record was October 21st in 1975, and Stony Plain's was October 9th in 2020 & 1979.



Warm & Cold Months

October 2022's average High of 15.5°C ends up 4.4°C above the 20th century average. The average Low of 3.7°C was 4.1°C warmer. They're both big orange bubbles here, following a warm September & August.



The Horserace

As winter looms 2022 has moved up to Edmonton's 4th warmest year overall, and 2°C above the 20th century average.

The Highs are the 9th warmest, and the Lows are the 4th. The red line really turned upwards at the start of August, and just kept going.

2022's summer didn't really kick-in until July, but for May 1-October 31st 2022 had the warmest average Highs & Lows on record.

Across Canada

For October across the country Edmonton, Calgary & St. John's were the most above-average for Highs & Lows. Winnipeg was back to average, after finally getting a warm~ish month in September.



Precipitation

In October we average 19mm of precipitation.

October 2022 was low, following a low September & August. Blatchford had 8.8mm, the airport 4.1mm, and Stony Plain 8.4mm.

October averages 8 days with precipitation. 

Blatchford somehow recorded 18, while the other stations were down around 8. For some reason Blatchford had lots of days with precipitation for August, September & October, but that didn't affect its precipitation totals.

By the end of October we average around 400mm of precipitation for the year.

Stony Plain is High with 436mm, while the others are a little low following the below-average August, September & October. The airport has 387mm, Blatchford has 349mm.



Precipitation Across Canada

This messy chart has 2022's precipitation for 11 cities.

Saskatoon & Regina are at the bottom. Next, Edmonton & Calgary are almost tied around 350mm. At the top Halifax is near 1200mm, and St. John's is over 1400mm.

For the big storms in October: 

• Halifax had 2 40mm+ days on the 19th & 26th. 
• St. John's & Winnipeg had 30mm+ days on the 17th & 24th.

First Snow

We didn't get snow in October.

Blatchford doesn't record snowfall anymore, but its average first snowfall used to be around mid-October, with the airport a bit earlier. 

2014, 2016, 2017 & 2018 all had September snow, which messed-up our averages. 2021's first-snow was really late at the airport, on November 14th.

This is the recent history of snowfall at the airport. Some years do get started early, but by the time we reach November the bubbles get a lot more frequent.

And this is our snowdepth throughout the winter. We almost always make it to Halloween without "lasting" snow, but after that it's game-on.

In October we average 7cm of snow, but a lot of years get none. Most of our real-winter months from November-March average around 20cm of snow, with February a little below the others at 13cm.

For the big Canadian cities the only snow so far for the winter of 2022-2023 was Calgary (ha-ha) with 10cm on the 22nd.



November

In November we average 18 days with Highs above freezing, but we start seeing Lows of -10°C and -15°C.

We haven't hit -20°C in November since 2015, and let's not talk about the -29.8°C in 2014.

Halloween 2022

Let's take a quick look back at the weather history for Halloween in Edmonton.

Recent History

In recent years the average High for Halloween is 4.8°C, and the average Low is -3.8°C.

The Highs for 2021, 2020, 2019, 2017 & 2016 were all right on average, while 2017 was a little warm at 8.3°C. Our warmest recent Halloween was 2010 with a High of 12.6°C, and 2013, 2007 & 1997 were all above 10°C.

Recent Halloweens with Highs below freezing were 2012, 2006, 2003, 1995 & 1991. 1991 was the coldest of the "recent" years with a High of -8.3°C and Low of -18.6°C, but in a second we'll take a look at the record for coldest Halloween.

For precipitation 2017 had 6.1mm, but Blatchford doesn't record whether that was snow or rain anymore. Going back to when Blatchford did record snow, we got snow on Halloween in 2003, 1999, 1994 & 1991.

Full History

The record for coldest Halloween was 1984, with a ridiculously cold High of -17.1°C and Low of -23.4°C. The 2nd-coldest Highs were only -12.2°C in 1935 & 1936. The 2nd-coldest Low is -18.6°C from 1991.

1959 has the record for Halloween precipitation, with 4.3mm of rain and 6.9cm of snow, for a combined precipitation of 11.2mm. 1882 was second with 10.2cm of snow.

Snowdepth

The bars here are the years with measurable snow depth on October 31st. (the little dots are the peak snowdepth for each winter, but those usually occur much later).

This data isn't perfect, because it doesn't start until the 1950s, Blatchford stopped collecting for a few years after 2007, and Stony Plain didn't start until the 1980s.

But with what we've got the peak time for snowy Halloweens was 2001-2006, with 4 or 5 years having snow. Outside of those years, having snow on Halloween has been pretty unusual.

This is another look at how our snowdepth builds up in the early part of the winter, and the years with darker-blue are the only ones that had snow on October 31st.

This is another look at it, but showing only the years with snow on the ground for Halloween.

First Fall Frost of 2022

 It took awhile, but on October 23rd the Blatchford station finally recorded its first frost of the fall:

And it wasn't just the big city. The Stony Plain station also held out until the 23rd for frost:

Stony Plain had a few days earlier in October which were below 1°C, but Blatchford didn't drop below 1.3°C until the 23rd.

New Records

Blatchford's previous record for latest first-frost-of-fall had been October 21st, 1975, but 2022 beats that with October 23rd.

Stony Plain's previous record for latest first-frost-of-fall had been October 9th, in 2020 and 1979. 2022's October 23rd beats that by 2 weeks.

Frost-Free Days

So Blatchford's first fall frost was record-breakingly late on October 23rd, and the final frost of spring was a little late on May 10th.

With those two together 2022 had 166 frost-free days. Our average is around 144, so 166 is a lot, but it's not a record. Recently 2020 had 173, 2011 had 174, and 1980 has the record with 185.

The Neighbourhood

Around the neighbourhood the airport's first frost was back on September 20th, and Campsie's was September 10th.

On average Blatchford's frost-free season is about 1 month longer than the airport's, but in 2022 it was 166 days vs. 110 days.    

Across Canada

For some Canada-wide context, while a first-fall-frost on October 23rd is extremely late for Edmonton, it is right around the average for Montréal, Halifax & St. John's.

September 2022 Review

It's time for our giant look back at Edmonton's September 2022 weather.

September 2022's average High of 21.9°C ranked as 5th warmest since 1880. 1938 has the record with 24°C. The average Low of 9.2°C was the 1st warmest, ahead of 8.9°C from 1967.

Our warm September follows an August with the #2 warmest Highs and #1 warmest Lows; and a July with #27 warmest Highs (not too impressive) and #3 warmest Lows.

 

High Temperatures

September started really hot, with 3 new record Highs. It got a little cool around the middle of the month, and was well above average at the end. It ends with 7 Highs below average, and 23 above.

In September we average about 11 Highs of 20°C, and 2022 had 23. In recent years 2009 was closest to that with 20. We had 9 25°C days, when the average is 3. And we had 3 Highs reach 30°C, which also happened in 2009.

We talked more about the September heatwave here:

https://edmontonweathernerdery.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-heatwave-of-early-september-2022.html 

Notably:

• records Highs on September 2, 3 & 4.
• #2, #8 & #10 warmest September days on record
• 3 30°C days in-a-row, which hadn't happened in September.

 

Warm Days So Far

For the summer so far we have had 49 days reach 25°C, which ties for 11th most. At the end of June we only had 2 (which was a bottom 10 year), but then from July 1st-September 31st we had 47 (#1 for that period).

For 20°C Highs so far we've had 107, which ties for 14th most. Recently 2017 reached 111, and 1897 & 1898 are tied for the record with 122.

 

Low Temperatures

For September 2022's Lows only 6 were below average, compared to 24 above. We set new records on September 26th & 27th.

September averages about 10 Lows below 5°C, and 2022 had 2. September also gets frost about half of the time, but 2022 escaped it (along with 2021, 2020, 2017, 2016...)

 

Frost-Free Days

The first frost at the Airport was September 20th, and at Campsie it was the 10th. Both of those were a few days later than their average.

Blatchford & Stony Plain haven't had theirs yet, but the average dates are September 27th & 23rd.

 

Warm & Cold Months

September 2022's average High of 21.9°C ends up 5°C above the 20th century average. The average Low of 9.2°C was 4.8°C warmer. They're both big orange bubbles, following a very warm August, and a fairly warm July.

 

The Horserace

With 3 months left in the year, so far 2022 has moved up to Edmonton's 12th warmest year overall, and 1.7°C above the 20th century average. The Highs are the 18th warmest, and the Lows are the 8th. The red line really turned upwards at the start of August, and just kept going.

 

Across Canada

For September Highs across the country Edmonton & Saskatoon were the most above-average. Winnipeg finally gets a genuinely above-average month, for the first time since last November. For the Lows Edmonton & Calgary were the most above-average.

 

Precipitation

September averages 35mm of precipition. September 2022 was low, with 15mm at the airport, 13mm at Blatchford, and only 7mm at the airport.

September averages 10 days with precipitation. In 2022 somehow Blatchford was way up at 13 days, while the airport and Stony Plain were down at only 5 days.

By the end of September we average around 380mm of precipitation for the year. The airport is right on that with 382mm, while Stony Plain is a little high with 427mm and Blatchford is a little low with 340mm.

 

Precipitation Across Canada

This messy chart has 2022's precipitation for 11 cities. Saskatoon & Regina are at the bottom. Next, Edmonton & Calgary are almost tied around 340mm. At the top Halifax is over 1000mm, and St. John's is over 1300mm.

For the big storms in September: - St. John's had 80mm on the 11th, 46mm on the 12th & 45mm on the 10th (171mm over 3 days!) - Halifax got 65mm on the 23rd - Montréal had 36mm on the 19th.

 

October

For October, we average about 1~2 Highs of 20°C, but half of the time there are none. October also averages 2 Highs below 0°C, and 14 freezing Lows.