2024 Year-in-Review Part 1: Temperatures

And now, what you've all been waiting for! 

It's time for our big look back at 2024 with our Year-in-Review Part 1: Temperatures.



Warmest & Coldest Years

The big news: 2024 is Edmonton's 8th/9th warmest year on record (tied with 2001) at 2°C above the 20th century average. 

That's below 2023's record of 3.3°C, but above 2017-2022. 

July was our #1 warmest on record, September was #4, and August was #8.

2024's average High was 1.3°C above our 20th century average, and was our 19th warmest on record. The average Low was 2.7°C above average, and was our 5th warmest. And together that makes 2024 9th overall. 

In the red lines you can see the big dip for the January deepfreeze.

I don't get to use this chart very often, but here each pie piece is one month of the year. 

In 2024 the only month which was colder than the 20th century average was November (a very faint blue), although June, May & March were all close (basically grey).

For the climate stripes scarf chart 2024's 2°C is another red one, although obviously not as red as the record-breaking 2023. 

The last time that we had a blue stripe was back in 1996, at -1.7°C colder than the 20th century average.

For the local outlying stations 2024's temperatures ranked around top-15.



Temperatures Across Canada

Across the country 2024 was #1 warmest for Montréal, Ottawa & Charlottetown, #2 for Kelowna, Winnipeg & St. John's, top-5 for Toronto & Moncton, and top-10 for Calgary, Edmonton, Regina & Halifax. The bottom is Vancouver, with its 24th warmest year.

Here are the climate stripes for the country's big cities. 

Back in 2022 we had a few whites and one blue (Winnipeg), but 2023 & 2024 have been all pink or red.

Montréal deserves a special look, because 2024 is their new warmest year on record. But they just set a new record in 2023, and before that in 2021. 

2024's 3.1°C is a standout though, well above 2023's 2.4°C and 2021's 2.3°C.

And here is Ottawa (#1) and you can click through for Charlottetown (#1), Kelowna & Winnipeg (#2), or any of the others.



Warm & Cold Months

Across the country 2024 didn't have many months that were cooler than the 20th century average. The prairies got a few in March, May, June & November. But the central and eastern part of the country were above average for the whole year.



High Temperatures

For 2024 Edmonton had 209 days with Highs above our 30-year average. 

That included 11 warmest-records in January, February, July & September. 

157 were below the 30-year average.

2024 had 97 days with Highs that reached 20°C. That's close to our longterm average, but it's fairly low for recent years. 

2024 had 45 days reach 25°C, which is down from 2021-2023, but our historic average is around 35.

2024 had 16 days reach 30°C, which is the 2nd most on record, behind 2021 with 17. Summer was slow to get started, and in May & June we only got above 25°C 3 times. But then July and September heatwaves set a string of new records.

The July heatwaves weren't as headline-grabbing as the 2021 heatdome, but a ridiculous number of notable things happened.

• https://edmontonweathernerdery.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-great-heatwaves-of-july-2024.html 

For 30°C days across the country Edmonton & Kelowna were very high, while the other cities ranged from top-20 to average.

Edmonton's 16 30°C days was more than Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto or Ottawa, which doesn't happen very often.



Low Temperatures

For 2024 there were 241 days with above-average Lows, and included 14 new warmest-records.

The 125 below-average Lows were mostly a January deepfreeze, cool start to March, cool mid-June, and a cold end to November.

2024 ended up with 20 Lows of -20°C, when our average is around 25. Only one of those happened at the end of the year. The rest came at that beginning of March, and during the 11-day deepfreeze in January.

2024 had 5 days reach -30°C, from January 11-15. Those 5 days were actually all below -34°C, and January 12-14 were below -36°C, which is very unusual.

The January 2024 deepfreeze was extremely deep, and it did some things that we hadn't seen since the 1970s, 1960s, and even the 1950s. 

• https://edmontonweathernerdery.blogspot.com/2024/02/january-2024-review.html 

For -20°C Lows across the country 2024 was below average for the big winter cities.



Yearly Extremes

With a warmest High of 36.2°C on July 10th, and a coldest Low of -37.7°C on January 13th Edmonton's temperature range in 2024 was 73.9°C. That was the largest range since 1950.

The record is 80.5°C, set in 1936 and 1886 (our Lows used to get even colder).



Records

2024 set 11 new record Highs. The only year with more is 1889, with 14. 

And it set 14 new record warmest-Lows. The only year with more is 2023, with 15. 

In the 4 years since 2021 we've set 51 new record warmest-Lows, which is 14% of the year.



Frost-Free Days

The final spring frost was pretty early on April 20th, while the first fall frost was pretty late on October 12nd. So 2024 ended up with 174 frost-free days.

Our average is 142, 1980 has the record at 184, and 2023 was up at 182.

This chart is very cramped, but it gives a sense of how the growing season varies across the country. In 2024 Toronto, Montréal & Winnipeg had a frost-free season that was a week or two shorter than their averages, while everywhere else was average or longer.



Edmonton versus Calgary

And finally, a quick comparison of Edmonton & Calgary. 

As usual the temperatures track fairly closely. But sometimes a Chinook really hits Calgary: the biggest gap this year was February 29th's High of -12°C in Edmonton, and +10°C in Calgary.

That's the end of Part 1 of our 2024 Year-in-Review. Part 2 will look at precipitation, and part 3 will be all about snow.