Edmonton's Recent Epic Deepfreezes

February's long coldsnap may be over, but grab your hot chocolate (and/or bailey's) because today we're going to talk about Edmonton's recent history of epic deepfreezes.

If you are reading this from the future, the dashboards in these posts tend to break pretty easily, and may no longer match with the text. An archive of the post with the original images is on bluesky.

Coldest Winter(s)

For some context our coldest winter on record is split between 1886-1887 (#1 coldest Lows, #2 coldest Highs, but it is some missing data), and 1955-1956 (#7 coldest Lows, #1 coldest Highs, no missing data). 

1886-1887 is probably the winner though, with a bunch of record Lows.



Longest Deepfreeze

Our longest deepfreeze was famously January 7th to February 1st, 1969. 

Blatchford had 26 straight days with daytime *Highs* below -21°C, with the coldest reaching -30.6°C. The Lows had 26 days in-a-row below -25°C, and 28 in-a-row below -20°C. The coldest was -39.4°C.

The Great Deepfreeze of '69 is pretty unique for Edmonton (as far as recorded history goes), and also compared to the other prairie cities. We looked at it more here.



A "Typical" Deepfreeze

From 1998-2018 we didn't have a stretch of -20°C Lows that lasted longer than 10 days. Most winters topped-out at around 6 or 7.

But since 2019 we've had several deepfreezes that could qualify as "coldest/longest/deepest/etc in a generation".



February 2025

February 2025 was a bit of a baby deepfreeze. It lasted about 3 weeks, but in the middle it was just kind of cold rather than really cold.

February 2025's claim to fame was 20 Lows below -17°C in-a-row, and 20 Highs below -6 in-a-row. 

Neither of those temperatures are super extreme, but those were still both the longest streaks since 1996.



January 2024

The winter of 2023-2024 was pretty mild from the El Niño...except for two weeks in January (and the start of March).

It was cold from January 9th-20th, but the 5 days from January 11th-15th were stuff that we hadn't seen in decades.

Normally I like to be visual with charts, but so many things happened that it would take forever. So here's a boring list instead: 

• 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. 
• 2 Highs of -31°C, which was the most since 1954. 
• 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) 
• Stony Plain recorded 3 Lows of -40°C. Prior to that it had only recorded 2 in its entire history, going back to 1966. 

The airport is always ridiculously cold, and even it set records. 

• The airport's two coldest Highs ever recorded were -34.4°C on the 12th and -34.3°C on the 14th. 
• It had 3 Lows of -45°C in-a-row, which it had never done before. 
• Its 5 Lows of -40°C in-a-row tied 1969.

This was a generational deepfreeze.

2022-2023

The winter of 2022-2023's claim to fame was not actually a deepfreeze. 

Instead it was nearly two months - from November 28th to January 18th - without a High above freezing. Typically during the winter we will spend 2 or maybe 3 weeks below 0°C, before we get a break.

2022-2023 spent 52 days below freezing, which is twice what we might typically see. It was so long that it tied 1978 as the 3rd longest ever recorded. 1956 has the record with 83 days.

In the middle of that thawlessness we had a short but very deep deepfreeze, with 3 Lows in-a-row below -33°C, with the coldest down to -34.1°C on January 21st.

At the time, 3 Lows of -33°C in-a-row was the longest since 1989. But then January 2024 beat that with 5 in-a-row.



2021-2022

The big deepfreeze of 2021-2022 was from just before Christmas into January. It got to -35°C, and at the time that was the only one since 2009 (then 2024 had 3 more)

Its claim to fame was 17 Lows in-a-row which reached -22°C, which was the most since 1996. And it had 8 Lows of -28°C in-a-row, which tied with 1970.



February 2021

The winter of 2020-2021 was mostly fairly mild, but things cooled off in late-January, which was followed by a February deepfreeze. The coldest it got was -33.9°C,

2020-2021's claim to fame was 27 Lows in-a-row below -16°C, which was the most since 1982.

It also had 15 Lows below -20°C (2019 had 18), and 6 -25°C Lows (2020 had 7, and 2019 had 9).



January 2020

January 2020 was a short but deep deepfreeze. Lows were below -21°C from the 9th to 19th. The 15th got down to -37.6°C. 

Since 1972 our 3 coldest temperatures were: -37.6°C on Jan 15, 2020; -37.7°C on Jan 14, 2024; and -37.8°C on Jan 19, 1996.

January 2020 had 4 -25°C Highs in-a-row, which was the most since 1980 (January 2024 later tied that). 

And it had 6 -20°C Highs in-a-row, which tied 2004 as the most since 1996 (2021 later beat that with 7, and 2024 tied it with 6)



February 2019

February 2019 kicked off our modern era of really long deepfreezes, with Lows below -20°C from February 1st-18th. But even after that it didn't have a big warmup, and stayed fairly cold until March 10th.

February 2019 had 18 Lows of -20°C in-a-row. We've had a bunch of winters get close to that since then, but at the time that was by far the longest since 1996. 

It also had 9 -25°C Lows in-a-row, which was the most since 1996.



What happened in 1996?

A lot of the recent deepfreezes have been "the worst since 1996". So what's the deal with 1996? It was an extremely cold year in Edmonton, and all across the prairies. On Edmonton's climatestripes, it was the last time that we had a blue year.

1996 gave us a long deepfreeze for the winter of 1995-1996, lasting from mid-January to early February. 

And then a few months later the winter of 1996-1997 was also very cold, although its deepfreezes took a few short breaks.



Are things changing?

The past few winters have thrown a lot of really cold days at us. 

We've had 5 -35°C Lows (2 getting down to -37°C), when from 1998-2018 we only had 3. 

In the 8 winters since 2018 we've had 27 -30°C Lows, while the 18 winters from 1998-2017 only had 26.

For -25°C Lows our average has stayed flat around 11, with a few bigger winters like 2018-2019, 2021-2022, and now 2024-2025.

And -20°C Lows still average around 25, even with those long deepfreezes. 

2013-2014, 2010-2011, and 2008-2009 all had a lot of -20°C Lows. They just weren't all in-a-row like we've seen in the past few years, and took little breaks.


The numbers that we've talked about here "days below -20°/-19°/-18°C/etc" are pretty arbitrary, and they are picked to be notable. February 2025 had "20 Lows in-a-row below -17°C!", but if you shift that to -20°C it was only 6. And playing that game works for all of these deepfreezes, to various degrees.

But it's also true that since 2019 we've seen a concentration of exceptionally long, or exceptionally cold deepfreezes, compared to what we would have seen from roughly 1999 to 2018.

The Great Deepfreeze(~ish) of February 2025

In the past few years February has thrown some pretty epic deepfreezes at us - in 2019, and 2021. And now 2025 sort of joins that club.

If you are reading this from the future, the dashboards in these posts often break over time, and won't reflect what is written in the text. An archive of what the original images looked like can be found here on bluesky.

The reason that 2025 wasn't quite as epic as the others is because it had a little bit of a warmup early on:

Things started to cool off on January 31st, then dropped again on February 1st, and didn't really get warm again until February 20th. 

But from the 5th through 8th (or even the 12th) temperatures crept up just a bit, which makes this more of a long coldsnap than an epic deepfreeze.




Lows In-a-Row

The February 2025 coldsnap ended with 20 Lows of -17°C in-a-row. That's 1 more than 2019 or 2021, and is the most since 1996.

However, for -20°C Lows in-a-row 2025 peaked at only 6. 

Recently January 2022 got to 16, February 2021 got to 15, and February 2019 got to 18. 

1950 has the record with 46.





Cold Lows

In February we average around 6 Lows of -20°C, and in 2025 we've had 12. 

That included 10 Lows that got to -25°C, when the average is 2. The coldest was 30.3°C on the 18th. 

In comparison: 

• February 2021 had 15 -20°C Lows, with 8 at -25°C, and 3 of those got to -30°C. The coldest was -33.9°C. 
• February 2019 had 19 -20°C Lows, with 16 at -25°C, and 4 got to -30°C. The coldest was -32.8°C.

Highs In-a-Row

The February 2025 coldsnap ended up with 20 Highs of -6°C in-a-row.

"Colder than -6°C" isn't super impressive, but that's the result of the less-cold week that we got in the middle of it. And 20 -6°C Highs is still the most since 1998.

For really cold days though, February 2025 only had 3 -20°C Highs in-a-row. 

Recently 2024 & 2020 both went 6 in-a-row, and 2021 went 7. 

2025 had 6 -15°C Highs in a row, when 2019, 2020 & 2021 all went to 11.



Cold Highs

February averages around 4 Highs below -15°C, and right now 2025 is at 10. 

And it averages 1 High of -20°C (although a lot of years don't have any) and 2025 has 3. That ties 2023, but 2021 had 5, and 2019 had 9.



Days Without a Melt

In the winter the longest that Edmonton typically goes without an above-freezing High is around 3 weeks. So 2025's 20 days below 0°C wasn't unusual.

2 weeks below freezing happens a lot. 

And most winters will get one 3 week stretch, like the one that we just got.

Going 4 weeks or more is unusual, but recently it happened in 2023, 2022, 2021, 2011, 2009 & 2005.

2023's 52 days was very unusual, and tied 1978 as the 3rd longest on record.



Cold Days So Far

So far this winter's 19 -20°C Lows are right on average. But unfortunately our deepfreeze season can last into early March, so we might not be done yet.

The 14 -25°C Lows that we've had so far are actually above the average of around 10.



We're Not Alone

The February 2025 deepfreeze wasn't just us. Calgary also had 20 Lows of -17°C in-a-row, which is the most since 1996.

And Saskatoon & Regina both got down to -40°C (twice for Regina), and set new records for coldest Lows on the 18th & 17th respectively.

January 2025 Review

January 2025 is in the books, so it's time for our big look back at Edmonton's weather for the month.

January 2025 was a pretty warm one, following a relatively cold one in January 2024.

The average High of -2.2°C was the 20th warmest on record, in the same range as 2023, 2021, 2019 & 2014. The average Low of -10.3°C was the 8th warmest, just ahead of 2023 & 2021.

Our modern January temperatures have nothing in common with a century ago, or even with the 1970s.

Average Highs are up by 8°C and Lows are up by 10°C. Even a "cold" modern January like 2024 is well above the historic average. December & February haven't changed nearly as much.





High Temperatures

January had a lot of warm days near the top of our usual range, but it started cool, got cool briefly in the middle, and then again at the end. 

Overall 21 Highs were above freezing, with 2 as the warmest in 30 years. 10 were below average.

January averages 12 above-freezing Highs, and 2025 was up at 18. That's the most since 2001's 25, although 2022 & 2021 got to 17. 

We had 6 Highs get to 5°C, when the average is around 4. 

The coldest High was -19.3°C on the 19th, while January averages 2 -20°C Highs.



Low Temperatures

January had 10 below-average Lows, and 21 above-average. 

That included 2 record new record-warmest Lows on the 10th and the 27th.

January had 5 Lows below -20°C, when the average is around 8. 

It had 2 -25°C Lows when the average is around 4. The coldest was -27.6°C, while January 2024 got all the way down to -37.7°C. 

It also had 3 rare, above-freezing Lows, which ties 2015 & 2014.



Cold Days So Far

By the end of January we average around 15 -20°C Lows, and so far this winter we're at 6 (with more to come in February). 

And we've had 3 -25°C Lows compared to an average of around 8. 

And no -30°C Lows (yet).

Historically our -30°C season stretched into March. Recently we got to -30°C in March 2011, 2009 & 2003. But more typically they're late-December through early-February. 

Our -20°C season stretches well into mid-March, and in 2020 we even got one on April 2nd.



Warm & Cold Months

2025 gives us another orange/warm January. The average High of -2.2°C was -6.6°C warmer than the 20th century average. The average Low of -10.3°C was 7.9°C warmer. 

The last January with a High colder than the 20th century average was 2004. The last below-average Low was 1998.



Across Canada

January was well above-average in the west, and pretty warm everywhere else, except for Toronto, Moncton & Halifax. 

Dawson was at the top with a High 10.2°C above their 20th century average, followed by Edmonton's 6.6°C. 

For Lows, Edmonton's 7.9°C above average was the top.



Snow

In January we average 20cm of snowfall, and 10 days with snow. 

2025 was a little above average with 22.9cm over 12 days.

By this point of the winter we average 66cm of snowfall, and this winter we're really close with 64.1cm. 

Across the country Charlottetown is way up at 278cm, well above 2nd place Moncton's 145cm.

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

 As usual, Elk Island is at the top with 42cm, while the rest are around 30cm. 

The long stretch of warm temperatures didn't drop the snowdepth very much, and then the late-January snowfalls pushed it back up.

We've still got plenty of snow season left, because we usually don't get down to zero snow until late March. Last winter in 2024 the snow didn't really start until January, and 2019 & 2018 saw big jumps later in the winter.

Across the country Charlottetown has recently jumped to the top with 76cm, while Dawson City has been consistent and is at 57cm.



January Rain

January rain always feels weird, but it's really not that unusual. 

January 2025 actually had 3 rainy days at the airport for a total of 3.4mm. January 2024 didn't have any rain, but 2022 had 2 days, 2021 had 2 days, and 2019 had 3.



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.