January 2024 Review

It's time for our big look back at January 2024, which was a, shall we say interesting, month?

After our extremely warm November and record-breaking December, January 2024 was a little chilly.

The average High of -8.7°C ranked as our 82nd warmest, and coldest since 2004.

The average Low of -17°C was 68th warmest, and slightly warmer than 2020.



High Temperatures

January 2024's Highs started warm, but the deepfreeze kicked in from the 10th through 17th, and cool temperatures lingered for another week after that. Then the end was ridiculously warm, including a new record of 12.4°C for January 30th. 17 Highs were below our 30-year average, and 14 were above.

In January we average 12 Highs above-freezing, and 2024 had 9. January averages 4 Highs of 5°C, and 2024 had 5, including 2 that reached 10°C. 

On the other hand, we had 2 Highs reach -30°C, and 2004 was the last time that we had one of those.

This chart is a bit cramped, but January 2024 was our first January on record with Highs of both -30°C and 10°C. And it had 2 of each.

(December 1884 also had Highs from -30°C to 10°C, and so did February 1884, 1893 & 1936.)



Low Temperatures

For the Lows, January 2024 had a mild start and warm end. But we were below -20°C from the 9th through 19th, including the 12th through 14th below -36°C.

15 Lows were below average (with 4 as the coldest in 30+ years), and 16 were above.

January had 11 Lows below -20°C, when we average around 8. That included 7 below -25°C, with 5 below -30°C, and 3 of those were below -35°C.

In recent years 2020 had 4 -30°C Lows. Going further back 1997 had 6, and 1996 had 9. The most -35°C Lows was 2 in 1997.

January 2024 recorded temperatures from -37.7°C to 12.4°C, for a range of 50.1°C.

This is the first January to cover move than 50°C since 1943. 1884 & 1922 have the record, with a 53.9°C range.



The Great Deepfreeze

January's deepfreeze was pretty unusual, and it's tough to cover all of it: 

It was our first -30°C High since 2004, and the first winter with 2 -30°C Highs since 1992.

And actually, it was our first -31°C High since 1989, and the only year with 2 of them since 1954.

January 14th's Low of -37.7°C was only our 3rd -37°C since 1972. January 15th, 2020 was -37.6°C, and January 19th, 1996 was -37.8°C.

The 3 Lows of -36°C were the most since 1972. The only recent year with more than 1 was February 1989 with 2.

January 2024 had:

• 4 Highs in-a-row of -27°C which is the most since 1969. 
• 6 Highs in-a-row of -20°C which tied 2020. 2021 had 7. 
• 3 Lows in-a-row of -36°C tying 1972. 
• 5 Lows in-a-row of -34°C tying 1969.
• 11 Lows in-a-row of -20°C (2019 had 18)

During the deepfreeze there were lots of -40°Cs around town. 

Stony Plain's last -40°C was 1977, but this year had 3, and the airport had 5. 

The airport recorded 3 Lows of -45°C in-a-row, which it had never done before. And its 5 Lows of -40°C in-a-row tied 1969.

The airport's Highs of -34.4°C & -34.3°C on the 12th & 14th were the coldest ever recorded there. 

And the Lows on the 12th, 13th & 14th ranked as its 3rd, 5th & 6th ever recorded.

So this deepfreeze rewrote the airport's (relatively short) history books.

And the deepfreeze wasn't just us.

Calgary, Kelowna, Vancouver, and even Victoria were all down at or near historic records.

Saskatoon & Regina also got really cold, but not quite at the level of coldest-in-50+ years.



Warm & Cold Months

The last time that Edmonton had a "cold" January that was below our 20th century average was 2004. 

2024's High of -8.7°C was right on the 20th century average.

The Low of -17°C managed to sneak above the 20th century average by 1.3°C.



The Horserace

If you recall, 2023 was Edmonton's warmest year on record, at 3.3°C above the 20th century average. 

After 1 month of 2024 we're sitting right on the average, because the deepfreeze and heatwave basically cancelled each other out.



Across Canada

January 2024's deepfreeze didn't really make it to Winnipeg, so the month was cool in the west, and fairly warm east of Saskatchewan. Winnipeg was actually the most above-average of all of the cities here.



Snow

In January we average 20cm of snow, and 2024 got close with 15.6cm. That follows an extremely low December, November & October.

By the end of January we average 66cm of snowfall, and so far we've only had 23.5cm.

There's still lots of winter to go, though. We average another 55cm between now and May.

We have a few new cities in the Canada-wide snowtracker.

I used to think that St. John's was snowy, but Charlottetown is already up over 200cm (and they average around 600cm each winter).

Also notable: Vancouver's 36cm of snow so far this winter is substantially more than Edmonton's 23.5cm.

36.2cm was their snowiest January since 2002.

(we average another ~55cm before spring, but they're mostly done for the winter)



Snowstorms

Our biggest snowstorm of January, and of the winter so far, was 8.2cm on January 9th. The 10th had another 2.2cm, so the 2-day total was 10.4cm

Across the country:

• Moncton had the biggest day, with 36cm on January 23rd 
• Calgary had 34cm on the 27th 
• St. John's had 32cm on the 21st 
• Charlottetown had 3 20cm+ days, including 28cm on the 10th 
• Montréal had 22cm on the 25th.

Snowdepth

At the end of January we average 20cm of snowdepth.

Earlier in the month the stations were all just over 10cm, but after the warm end to January they've all dropped: Stony Plain has 0cm, the airport has 2cm, Campsie has 3cm, and Elk Island has 6cm.

0~ish cm of snowdepth at this time of year is pretty unusual, and we need to go back to 2006 or 2001 to find something similar.

Across the country, Dawson City has the most snow on the ground, with 52cm.

The prairie cities are all close to 0cm.

The eastern cities are mostly above that, with Quebec City at the top with 31cm.



February

Our February temperatures are often a lot like January, with 10~15 Highs above 0°C, and 5 Lows below -20°C. 

But recently February 2021 & 2019 both had huge deepfreezes.

On average February is the least snowy main winter month, with about 14cm.