December 2024 Review

Somehow we've reached the end of the year, so it's time for our look back at Edmonton weather for December 2024. This will be a bit shorter than usual, because we've also got the giant-sized 2024 Year-in-Review coming up. 

But for now, December...

December 2024's average High of -3°C was a bit above average, and the 50th warmest on record. 

The average Low of -10.8°C was also a bit above average and was the 34th warmest. 

December 2023 was our warmest on record, with an average High of 2.8°C, and average Low of -6.7°C.



High Temperatures

The cold end of November carried over to December 1st, but after that things were fairly mild, except for a bit of a coldsnap around the middle of the month. 

Overall we had 19 above average Highs, and 12 below average.

On average December has 10 above-freezing Highs, and 2024 had 14. December averages 3 5°C Highs, and 2024 had 4. 

The coldest High was -16.9°C on the 17th & 18th. 

In 2023 our coldest December High was only -5.4°C, while 2022 & 2021 had Highs down to -29.6°C and -27.6°C.



Low Temperatures

December 2024's coldest Low was the morning of December 1st, at -25°C. That was the only -20°C of the month, although we got really close again on the 18th & 19th. 

Overall 22 Lows were above average and 9 were below.

December averages 2 Lows of -25°C and 3 of -20°C. 2024 just had 1, with December 1st's -25°C.



Cold Days so Far

By the end of December we average around 8 Lows of -20°C, and so far we've just had 1. 

That ties 2020 & 2018, although 2023 & 2019 both waited until the new year to get that cold. On the other hand, 2022 & 2021 had 15 & 14 of them by this point.



Warm & Cold Months

December's average High of -3°C was 2.8°C warmer than the 20th century average, so it's a medium orange bubble here. The average Low of -10.8°C was 3.9°C warmer, so it's also a medium orange bubble.



Across Canada

December 2024's Highs were warmer than the 20th century average across Canada. That ranged from Dawson City at 7.6°C above their average, to Toronto at 1.2 °C above theirs.



Precipitation

In December Edmonton averages 15mm of precipitation (rain+snow). 

2024 was a little above average with 28mm at Blatchford, 20mm at the airport, and 19mm at Stony Plain.

At the end of the year we average 438mm for the year. 

2024 was a little low with 373mm at Blatchford, 372mm at the airport, and all of the other local stations below that. That's mostly because of an extremely dry July and October.

For total precipitation for the year St. John's is well in the lead with 1,699mm - that's high for them, but not extreme. Toronto's 1,145mm is their wettest year on record, beating 1,110 in 1977.

For big December storms: - Halifax got 54mm on the the 24th, and 35mm on the 5th. - St. John's got 39mm on the 6th and the 26th. - Quebec City got 33mm on the 11th.



Snow

In December we average 16cm of snowfall, and 9 days with snow. 

December 2024's 17.4cm was basically right on the average, but only 6 days recorded snow.

At the end of December we average around 15cm snowdepth. Even with the mild temperatures and average snowfall, the local stations are all above average. Elk Island is at the top with 30cm, and the airport has 24cm.

For total snowfall so far Moncton is at the top with 77cm. Calgary had gotten off to an early start in November, but in December they only got 6cm, so their total of 40cm is just below Edmonton's 41cm.

For snowdepth measurements Dawson City is at the top with 43cm, Saskatoon has 28cm, and then Edmonton has 24cm.



January

In January on-average we get 12 days with Highs above freezing. But January is also our biggest month for deepfreezes, with an average of 8 Lows of -20°C. January's average snowfall is 22cm.