Edmonton records no snow in November for first time since 1928

It was a rather warm and dry November in the city of Edmonton according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

“Last year we had 20 cm of snow through November, and this year it is dry as a bone,” said Alysa Pederson, a warning preparedness meteorologist in Alberta with ECCC.

“The last time we had snowfall less than 0 cm, which is what we had this year, is 1928. We’ve had a couple of years where we had a little bit, most recently 2008 was 1.4 cm.”

Advertisement

Pederson says the last three months combined have made for the second warmest fall on record.

Weather patterns caused by a strong El Nino have led to similar weather that was seen in 2015 and 1997.

“For the fall so far, it’s generally just been a pattern of blocking upper ridges. That essentially means any Pacific weather systems that want to come through B.C. and develop storms in Alberta have generally just been blocked by an upper ridge, so a hold dome of warm air, so they’ve gone north of us and south of us,” explained Pederson.

While there is a potential for flurries next week, Pederson says it is still too soon to know if we will have snow on the ground for Christmas.

“As we go out to December 8th or so, there’s no real signal for any big snow,” she explained. “We are still looking pretty dry for a week or two.”