August 2023 Review

And suddenly it's September already. So let's take a look back at Edmonton's weather for August, 2023. Was it warm or cool? Rainy or dry?

August 2023's average High of 23.7°C was right on our average for recent years, and ranked 32nd overall.

The average Low of 13°C was pretty warm, and ranked 6th. That's below 14.4°C in 2022, but above every other August since 1998.



High Temperatures

August 2023 set one new record High, at 32.2°C on the 29th. Other than that there were some pretty warm days, but nothing else close to the top of our range. 

August ends up with 20 Highs above average, and 11 below.

In August we average about 22 Highs which reach 20°C, and 2023 had 25. That includes 10 25°C days, and this year we had 13. And August averages 1.4 30°C days, and 2023 had 2. 

The coldest High was 14.9°C on the 2nd, and August averages 2 days below 15°C.



Hot Days

We're getting to the end of our hot days season, and so far 2023 has had 54 days reach 25°C, which is the 6th most on record. That includes 23 28°C days, which is the 5th most on record.

At the end of August we've had 7 Highs reach 30°C. 7 is more than a lot of years, but is down from 11 in 2022, and the record-breaking 17 in 2021. We might get more in September, but the likelihood really drops off after around August 18th.



Low Temperatures

In the summer our range of possible Lows is very narrow. In August our coldest Low was 7.1°C on the 20th, which was the coldest in 30 years for that date. And we set new records of 16.9°C and 16.7°C on the 15th & 30th.

August 2023 had 4 Lows below 10°C, when we average around 8. About half of the time August will even drop below 5°C, which happened in 2018-2020.



Records

2023 has now set 6 records for daily Highs. 2~3 is fairly typical, and 2020 & 2021 both set 5. 

And 2023 has set 12 new for records for warmest-Lows. 2022 had 11 and 2021 had 13, so in the past 3 years we've set new record Lows for 10% of the days of the year. And just for May-September we've set new records on nearly a quarter of the days.



Warm & Cold Months

August 2023's average High was 1.5°C above the 20th century average, and is a small orange bubble. So far in 2023 March was our only below average month. 

The average Low was 3.2°C above the 20th century average, which is pretty warm, but not as warm as 2022's 4.7°C.



Across Canada

Across the country August 2023's Highs were actually a little cool in the East, and a little warm in the west. At the extremes Toronto's Highs were -0.9°C cooler than their 20th century average, while Calgary was 2.4°C warmer.



Precipitation

On average August is our 3rd rainiest month, with 52mm of precipitation. August 2023 was a little high, with 60mm at Blatchford, 73mm in Stony Plain, and 82mm at the airport.

In August we average around 12 days with rain. The airport had 13, but Stony Plain had 9 and Blatchford had 8.

August can see some summer storms. Stony Plain and the Airport both had 2 20mm+ days, and Blatchford had 1.

By the end of August we average 349mm of precipitation for the year. This year all of the stations are a little high, with 385mm at Blatchford, 404mm at the airport, and 418mm at Stony Plain.



Precipitation Across Canada

This chart has the precipitation for 2023 for these 11 Canadian cities. Halifax is at the top with 1050mm, and Saskatoon is at the bottom with 185mm.

Vancouver, Calgary & Winnipeg are all having pretty low years. (sometimes really low numbers mean that readings have been missed. But that doesn't seem to be the case here, with fairly complete records for the stations)

For big storms in August 2023 Halifax had 61mm on the 5th, and also two more days above 38mm. Ottawa had two days above 36mm, and Montréal had one 32mm day.



September

For September we average 11 days at 20°C, including 3 at 25°C. Since 2000 only 6 Septembers had a High below 5°C. 

For Lows, about half of the time September is frost-free, but below-freezing days can start to creep in at the end of the month.