August 2026 Review

So it's the end of August, and we finished off the summer with a pretty quiet month. Let's take our big look back at Edmonton weather for the past month.

August 2026 was our coldest August since 2020, but historically that still puts it well above average. 

The average High of 23.4°C was the 41st warmest. The average Low of 12°C was 21st warmest. 

(compared to 100 years ago August's average Lows have increased by 5°C)



High Temperatures

August's Highs were a little below average early in the month, and a little above late in the month. 

The coldest High was 17.7°C on the 13th, and the warmest was 29.7°C on the 26th & 27th. Overall 15 Highs were above-average, and 16 were below.

August gets to 30°C about half of the time. 2026 got close with three 29°C days, but didn't quite make it. 

August averages 10 25°C days, and 2026 only got 7. And it averages 23 20°C days, and got 27.



Warm Days So Far

The summer of 2026 was not a scorcher.

At the end of August we've had 89 Highs reach 20°C. 32 of those got to 25°C, and 4 reached 30°C. 

Those numbers are all pretty normal for us They're down from the string of exceptionally hot summers that we had from 2021-2025.

Our 30°C season can stretch into the first week of September, with the occasional stragglers later in the month.

And our 25°C season can extend through September, with a bit of spillover into October.



Low Temperatures

For the Lows 12 were below average, mostly early in the month, and then the other 19 were above average. That included a new record for August 22nd of 16.1°C.

August Lows usually don't have much of a spread.

It averages 19 Lows between 10-15°C, and this year we got 20. 

On the warm side we had 4 above 15°C, and the cool side had 7 below 10°C. Both of those were pretty average.



Warm & Cold Months

August gets orange/warms dots smaller than anything since 2020. The average High of 23.4°C was 1.3°C warmer than the 20th century average. The average Low of 12°C was 2.4°C warmer than the 20th century average.



Across Canada

August was a little above-average across all of Canada.

Kelowna was at the top with an average High of 29.9°C, which was 3.2°C above their 20th century average. At the other end Saskatoon's 24.2°C was -0.2°C below theirs.



Summer 2026

Across the county the summer of 2026 (May-August) was top 20~30 for a lot of the country, including Edmonton.

At the top Kelowna's had its 3rd warmest, and Moncton's was 8th. At the other end Winnipeg, Ottawa & St. John's were around their top-50.



Precipitation

And now: Precipitation.

After a frankly ridiculous June & July, August was mostly back to normal. August averages 50mm.

In 2026 Blatchford got 42.7mm, the airport got 53.6mm, and Stony Plain got 63.8mm.



2026 So Far

At the end of August Blatchford has had a total of 702.4mm. By this point of the year our average is half of that at around 350mm. 

Stony Plain & the airport are well below Blatchford, but still well above average with 549.3mm & 475mm.

702.4mm is Blatchford's 2nd rainiest year on record, passing 1901's 699m, but behind 1900's 724.8mm. 

Between now and the end of the year we average another 85mm, so catching the record should be pretty likely.

Edmonton's monsoon season typically lasts from mid-May to mid-August. This year things got a little excessive in the middle of that. But by this point we should be pretty much done with our summer storms.



Precipitation Across Canada

Across the country Blatchford's 702mm is enough to put us in the middle of a bunch of cities like Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Charlottetown. That's a weird spot for Edmonton to be. At the top Halifax is around 900mm, while Kelowna is below 100mm.

For big August storms Ottawa, Winnipeg & Montréal each got a 30mm+ day. And there were lots more from 20-30mm. Edmonton's biggest was 20.5mm on August 2nd.



The River

After spending most of July above 500m3/s, in August the river settled down to the more range of 200-300m3/s,



September

For September we average 11 days at 20°C, including 3 at 25°C. Although 2025, 2024 & 2022 all started with heatwaves.

September frost and snow can both happen. But our last September frost was 2019, and last snow was 2018.