Warmer-than-average Edmonton winter. But only slightly.

EDMONTON -- I’ve heard a lot of people saying, “can’t complain about this past winter”.

They’re right, it was a warmer-than-average season. But, maybe not as much as you think.

 

Meteorological winter is Dec/Jan/Feb.  So, Sunday was the start of meteorological spring.

Winter 2019-20 in Edmonton had average highs of -3 in December, -8 in January and 0 in February.

That gives us an average high of -3.7 degrees Celsius.

 

The long-term average high for winter is -4.4 degrees.  So, we were a little over half a degree warmer than the long-term average.  If you look at the past 20 years, it was middle-of-the-pack ranking as the 8^th-warmest in the past two decades.

The warmest winters in the past 20 years were 2015-16, 2011-12 & 2005-06.  Those years have an average high of -1.

 

Snowfall is a lot more variable across the city and that's why I'm always a little more leery about the precip stats.

BUT, "officially" we were slightly below average for snowfall.

 

Oh...AND if you’re wondering…

Last winter’s average high was -6. 

But, that was because of a blisteringly cold February.

December and January of LAST winter were actually warmer than this winter.