January 2023 Review

We're a month into 2023, so it's time for our big look back at Edmonton's weather for January 2023.

It might not have seemed like it, but January 2023 was pretty warm. The average High of -2.7°C was our 23rd warmest since 1880. The average Low of -11.1°C was the 12th warmest. It was pretty typical temperatures for a modern January, but way up from ye olden days.



High Temperatures

January's Highs were mostly just a little above average (and just a little below freezing), but we also got one warm week, and then a few cold days to end the month. We end up with 22 Highs above average and 9 below.

The biggest news for January had to be the end of our 52 day streak of below-freezing Highs. It started on November 28th and ended on January 18, and it tied with 1978 for our 3rd longest on record. 1949-1950 went 67 days, and 1955-1956 went 83.

In January we average about 13 Highs above freezing, and 2023 had 9. We also average around 4 Highs of 5°C or more, and 2023 only had 3. We didn't have any Highs reach -20°C, when January averages around 3. Our coldest High was -15°C on the 28th.



Low Temperatures

January 2023's Lows were also mostly just a bit above average, with an extra-warm one on the 25th, and a few cold ones to end things off. We ended up with 23 Lows above average and 8 below.

In January we average 8 days with Lows of -20°C, and in 2023 we just had 1, on the 29th. Our warmest Low was 2.6°C on the 26th. Above-freezing Lows in January are pretty unusual, with just 13 of them since 1990.



Cold Days So Far

So far this winter we've had 16 Lows reach -20°C, which is just above our average of 13. We got off to an early start with the December deepfreezes, but things settled down in January. Our 7 -25°C Lows so far is also right around average.



Warm & Cold Months

After a cool November & December, January is an orange, above-average bubble. January 2023's average High of -2.7°C was 6.1°C above the 20th century average. The average Low of -11.1°C was 7.2°C warmer. The last time that we had a below-average January was back in 2004.



Across Canada

January 2023's temperatures were above-average in cities across the country. But perhaps surprisingly Edmonton & Calgary were the most above-average, with temperatures 6-7°C warmer than the 20th century average for January.



Snow

In January we average 23cm of snow, and in 2023 we got 3.6cm. That is the airport's 4th lowest going back to the 1960s.

January averages 9 days with measurable snow, and in 2023 we just had 2: the 27th and the 31st.

By the end of January we average around 65cm of snow. After our mostly snowless January we are sitting at 49.4cm.



Snow Across Canada

Edmonton's mostly snowless January was not shared across the country. Montréal & Ottawa were around 95cm, St. John's had 70cm, and Calgary, Toronto & Halifax were all over 35cm.

For Ottawa, Montréal & Calgary this was a lot of snow. 40cm was actually Calgary's 3rd snowiest January. Ottawa's 96.5cm was its 8th, and Montréal's 94.8cm was their 12th.

This messy chart has the snow totals for the winter so far. Ottawa is at the top with over 200cm, with Montréal near 170cm. Calgary & St. John's are both around 100cm. Edmonton's 49cm is near the bottom, just a bit above Vancouver's 36cm.

For the big storms in January: - 33.6cm in Calgary on the 27th - 31.6mm in St. John's on the 21st - 21.8mm in Montréal on the 25th Ottawa had 5 10cm+ days, including 18.3cm on the29th



Snowdepth

Our snowdepth has been above average for most of the winter, but the warm week finally melted some of it off. At the end of January we average 20cm of snow on the ground. The airport is close to that, Elk Island is high, and Stony Plain and Campsie are low.

Edmonton's snowdepth is pretty slow and steady through the winter, but the snowy January spiked Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa & Montréal near the end of the month.



February

Our February temperatures are often a lot like January, with 10~15 Highs above 0°C, and 5 Lows below -20°C. Recently though February 2021 & 2019 both had huge deepfreezes. On average February has the lowest snow of the main winter months, at about 14cm.