November 2023 Review

How about that November 2023, huh? 

It was pretty mild and dry, but was it unprecedented, or merely precedented? Let's take a look...

It won't surprise anyone to hear that November 2023 was pretty warm. 

The average High of 5.3°C ranked as our 16th warmest overall, and the average Low of -3.7°C was 13th. 

Recently November 2016, 2009 & 2008 were all in the same range.



High Temperatures

November 2023's Highs were above average for almost the whole month, but not by a whole lot. 

The only really exceptionally above average days were the 17th-19th at 14°C, 11.8°C & 10.4°C.

November ends up with 28 Highs above average, and 2 (just barely) below.

November 2023 had 28 Highs above freezing, when the average is around 18. 

November also averages 8 Highs below -5°C, and 2023 had none. 

The warmest High was 14°C on the 17th, and the coldest was -1.5°C on the 30th.

By the end of November on average we have 8 Highs reach -5°C. 

2023 had none, which is unusual, but not all that uncommon. It also happened in 2021, 2015, 2009, 2008, 2004, 2000, 1987, 1981 ...



Low Temperatures

November 2023's Lows were a lot like the Highs: almost all above average, but also not super-hot.

We didn't come close to any records, or to the top of our 30-year range. 

Overall 28 Lows were above average, and 2 were below (just barely).

November averages 3 above-freezing Lows, and in 2023 we didn't actually get any. 

On average it also has 9 Lows reach -10°C, and we had 1.

Last year in 2022 we had 3 -20°C Lows in November.



Warm & Cold Months

November 2023 was pretty warm, and here it's an orange bubble. 

The average High of 5.3°C was 4.8°C above the 20th century average, and average Low of -3.7°C was 4.7°C above. So far for 2023 March is our only below average month.

Across Canada

November 2023 was pretty warm in the west, and average to cool in the east. The Highs ranged from Edmonton & Calgary at 4.8°C warmer than our 20th centruy averages, down to Halifax at at -1.8°C colder than theirs.



The Horserace

With 1 month left in the year, 2023 is still holding onto its spot as Edmonton's 3rd warmest year on record. The Highs are 5th place, and the Lows are 3rd place. Overall the average temperature is about 2.5°C warmer than our 20th century average.

Across the county 2023 is a top-5 warmest year in Edmonton, Calgary & Montréal, and top-10 in Ottawa. For the other cities it's sitting between #16 (Halifax) and #27 (Regina).



Precipitation

In November we average 20.5mm of precipitation. In 2023 we got...basically nothing? 

Blatchford and the airport recorded 0mm, while Stony Plain had 0.7mm. Of a dozen local stations, New Sarepta recorded the most with 0.9mm.

On one hand, it definitely rained downtown on November 19th. But that didn't get recorded anywhere. 

On the other hand, Blatchford also recorded 0mm of precipitation in November in 1885 (which might be accurate) and in 1886 (which is probably an error).

The super-dry November follows an extremely dry October, and a pretty dry September. 

For all 3 months Blatchford's 17.4mm was a bottom-5 year, the airport's 22.9mm was its lowest on record, and Stoney Plain's 36.9mm was bottom-10.

In November we average around 10 days with precipitation. 

In 2023 Blatchford & the airport recorded nothing (although again, the 19th definitely had rain, and there were some flakes of snow), and Stony Plain had 3 days.

This shows the precipitation events that we normally get in September-November, compared to just how quiet 2023's fall has been.

By the end of November we average 423mm of precipitation for the year. 

The dry fall follows a fairly wet summer, so right now the airport is still right on the average with 427mm. Stony Plain is still a little high with 455mm, and Blatchford is a little low with 403mm.



Precipitation Across Canada

This chart has the precipitation for 2023 for these 11 Canadian cities. Halifax is at the top over 1,400mm, and Saskatoon is at the bottom around 230mm.

All of the big cities are pretty close to average for precipitation this year. 

The most unusual one is Vancouver, which is having a roughly bottom-10 year, with 685mm when their average is closer to 1000mm.

For big November storms: 

• Halifax had 50mm on the 18th, 43.9 on the 27th & 20mm on the 22nd 
• St. John's had 43.6mm on the 28th, 27mm on the 1st & 25mm on the 8th 
• Toronto had 20mm on the 8th 
• Vancouver had 20mm on the 11th

Snow

In November we average 20cm of snow. 

In 2023 the airport recorded 0cm, which had never happened before. 

Other low-snow Novembers at the airport were: 

• 2008 1.4cm 
• 2004 1.6cm 
• 1981 0.6cm 
• 1980 0.9cm

Snowdepth

No snow means no snowdepth. 

In recent years, the latest that we'd gone without "lasting" snow on the ground was November 24th, in 2015.

But if we go a bit further back: 

• 2008 made it to December 4th 
• 2005 didn't have substantial snow until February 
• 2004 made it to December 5th 
• 2002 didn't really start until December 30th

Snow Across Canada

For cities which did get snow this November: 

• St. John's topped the list with 27cm 
• Halifax, Ottawa & Montréal were all around 10cm. 
• Calgary had 2 days for 5cm Toronto got 2cm.

Across the country Regina is the only city showing snowdepth, with 1cm. Calgary & Winnipeg (and Edmonton) all had some around Halloween, but it's gone now.

In December we average about 10 days with Highs above 0°C. 

For the Lows, about half of the time December will hit -25°C, but since 1990 there were 3 Decembers which didn't hit -20°C. 

December averages 16cm of snow.

Mid-November 2023 Update

It's mid-November, but it's not looking very wintery outside.

Since Halloween our temperatures have been a little bit above average, but we haven't had any super-hot days, or even anything near the top of our 30-year range.

But we've definitely reached the part of the year where, when we get snow, it will start to hang around.

November 15th is the last day of the year where our average High is above freezing. 

It will stay below freezing until March 9th. 

It bottoms-out for a week or two around New Year's at -8°C. But for a lot of the winter our average High sits around -5°C.

Of course our temperatures don't actually spend much time right at our average High. Most winters have a lot of mild~ish days, punctuated by the occasional. hopefully-brief deepfreeze. This is last year as an example.

Our average High is below-freezing from November 16th through March 9th. That's 114 days.

During that time on average we have 45 days (40%) with Highs that reach 0°C. And that includes around 20 days (18%) which get to 5°C.

January is theoretically our coldest month, and even it averages 12 Highs which reach 0°C, including 4 which reach 5°C.

(January is theoretically our coldest month, but it has actually warmed up a lot in the past century. And in the last 10 years its average Highs & Lows now sit above December & February.)

With a month-and-a-half left in the year, the warm~ish start to November has kept 2023's temperatures as the 3rd warmest on record. But 2015's super El Niño autumn has closed most of that gap.

October 2023 Review

And now, our big look back Edmonton's weather for October, 2023!

October 2023 was a little warmer than average, but not a lot. The average High of 11.9°C ranked as our 69th warmest overall, and the average Low of 0.9°C was 31st overall.



High Temperatures

The Highs for October 2023 were at the top of our 30-year range early in the month, and then at the bottom of the range near the end of the month. 

October ends up with 21 Highs above average, and 10 below.

October averages about 2 Highs which reach 20°C, and 2023 had 7. 

But it also averages 2 Highs below freezing, and 2023 had 6. 

The warmest High was 24.8°C on the 7th, and the coldest was -4.5°C on the 24th.



Hot Days

October had 7 Highs reach 20°C, which brings the total for 2023 to 121 days. That is the 3rd most on record, behind 1897 & 1898 which both had 122. 4th place was last year, with 119 in 2022. The long-term average was around 95.



Low Temperatures

October 2023 had really warm Lows for most of the month, and then a really cool week near the end. 

Overall 19 Lows were above average, and 12 were below.

On average in October we get around 14 Lows below freezing, and 2023 had 10.

But that included 7 Lows below -5°C, while the average is only 3.



First-Frost

Blatchford's first-frost-of-autumn was on October 22nd, which was the 2nd latest on record. It just missed 2022's record of October 23rd. 

The average is around the end of September. The other local stations had earlier frosts, which were closer to their averages.

Blatchford had an early final-spring-frost on April 22nd, and a very late first-fall-frost on October 22nd. 

Altogether that was 182 frost-free days in-a-row, which is the 2nd most on record, behind 184 in 1985. The average is around 145 days.



First-Frost Across Canada

By the end of October every city here had had its first autumn frost.

Vancouver & Toronto were a week or two early, while the rest were mostly a week or two late.



Warm & Cold Months

October 2023's average High was 0.3°C above the 20th century average, for a tiny, orange bubble in this chart. The average Low was 1.4°C above the 20th century average, for a medium orange bubble. March is our only below average month so far this year.



Across Canada

October 2023's Highs were cool-to-average in the west, and warm in central & eastern Canada.

That ranged from Montréal at 3.2°C warmer than their average, down to Calgary at -1.6°C colder than theirs.



Precipitation

In October we average 18.7mm of precipitation. 

2023 was a really dry one, with 3mm at Blatchford, 4.8mm at the airport, and 4.2mm in Stony Plain.

In October we average around 8 days with precipitation. In 2023 Blatchford & the airport had 4 days, and Stony Plain & Campsie had 5.

The precipitation that we did get was pretty quiet, with the biggest day on October 23rd at the airport, with a whopping 2.6mm.

By the end of October we average 402mm of precipitation for the year. This year Blatchford is bang-on average at 402.5mm, the airport is at 427mm, and Stony Plain is up at 454mm.



Precipitation Across Canada

This chart has the precipitation for 2023 for these 11 Canadian cities. Halifax is at the top near 1,300mm, and Saskatoon is at the bottom at 222mm.

For big October storms: 

• St. John's had 51mm on the 16th 
• Winnipeg had 36mm on the 3rd 
• Vancouver had 34mm on the 18th 
• Montréal had 28mm on the 7th, and 25mm on the 6th

Snow

And we got our first snow! 

October averages 7cm of snow, and in 2023 we got 2.6cm.

We didn't have any October snow in 2021 or 2022, but we did get some in every year from 2016-2020.



First Snow

Blatchford doesn't record snow anymore, but the average date of the first snow has usually been around early~mid October. So 2023's first snow on October 23 was a little late, but still pretty typical.



Snowdepth

The airport, Stony Plain & Elk Island all briefly recorded 1~2cm of snowdepth, but that was gone before Halloween.

We don't normally get "lasting" snow before Halloween, but once the calendar ticks over into November the white stuff usually starts to stick around.



Snow Across Canada

A lot of cities saw snow this October:

• Calgary topped the list with 16cm. 
• Unfortunately Saskatoon, Regina & Winnipeg don't record snowfall anymore, but they did get some. 
• And Montréal, Ottawa & St. John's also joined the club right at the end of the month.

We've started to see little blips of snowdepth in various cities. Although Edmonton usually gets lasting snow before the other cities (typically even before Winnipeg).

November

In November we average 18 days with Highs above freezing, but we also start seeing Lows of -10°C and -15°C. Last November even had 3 Lows reach -20°C, which were the first -20°C days in November since 2015.