Edmonton, Alberta breaks record for consecutive days at or below zero

By Jesse Beyer
Chief Meteorologist Global News

April 12, 2018

This year, Edmonton has seen the spring of many seasons.

We have had a massive fluctuation in temperatures every week in 2018, with temperatures fluctuating between +8 C and -10 C for daytime highs at Edmonton’s Blatchford weather station.

The real story may be the fact that we have broken the all-time record for consecutive days with the temperatures slipping equal to, or colder than 0 C.

The mercury hit 0 C on Oct. 29, 2017 and it has failed to stay above that mark for 24 consecutive hours since!
I know you’ve been counting too, but as of April 12, that’s 167 days straight with no tomatoes being left uncovered.
The last time we saw a streak last this long was the 166-day stretch from Nov. 2 to April 16, 1975.
We did come close to breaking the streak on Dec. 15, 2017, when we started the day at -0.2 C, but that’s the closest we’ve been.

The low for the morning of Friday, April 13 (isn’t that some bad luck?) was a few degrees below 0 C. That extended the streak to 167 days, breaking the record (data begins in 1880).

With expected cloud cover insulating the surface, and a possible push of pacific air Friday night into Saturday morning, there is a chance Edmonton will stay above 0 C heading into April 14, which could end the streak.
That same push of warm air could help us get to our warmest temperature of not only spring 2018, but all of entire year so far with my forecast high of +9 C. That would beat the 8.2 C high we saw just a few hours after spring officially began on March 20, and the 8.6 C from Jan. 18, which is the warmest we’ve been all year.
This is a fun numbers game with stats but overall, we have been below the 30-year average for both highs and lows for February, March and April (so far ) in 2018.

April is the standout with an average daytime high being 11.2 C and low of -5 C. In the first 12 days of this month, our average high is -2.1 C and the low at -11.9 C.
I wish I had better news for you folks, but after a “warm” (near average) weekend, we may slip back to below 0 C for a few highs with possible snow through the middle of next week.

I’ll just see myself out.

FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: panaramio.com

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