Edmonton faces winter’s icy wrath, records 5th wettest December
Posted January 2, 2026 4:57 pm.
Last Updated January 3, 2026 9:51 am.
If you think there is a lot more snow than usual in Edmonton this winter, you are absolutely right.
Edmonton has seen the snowiest December in over a decade as the city received big snowfalls in the final week of December.
Danielle Desjardins, a meteorologist with ECCC, says this is the city’s fifth wettest December since such data has been recorded.
“Edmonton ended up end of month with 50.2 millimetres of precipitation, the monthly average is 11.8 so that put Edmonton at 425 per cent than its normal precipitation for the month of December and fifth wettest December on record,” she said.
The last time Edmonton received over 50 millimetres of precipitation in December was in 2004, when it recorded 53.9 millimetres. This precipitation data includes any rain and snow. ECCC melts snow to measure the water equivalent (1 centimetre of snow is approximately 1 millimetre of precipitation).
The city also received 59.9 centimetres of snow last month.
Desjardins told CityNews that other municipalities in Alberta saw record-level precipitations: As of Dec. 31, Banff was at 308 per cent above its 30-year average, Fort McMurray at 336 per cent (sixth wettest December), Grande Prairie at 513 per cent (second wettest) and Fort Vermilion at 282 per cent (first wettest).
The pattern is being driven by snow-producing systems repeatedly following the same track, allowing snow to pile up over time.
But this is welcome news for farmers across the province who have been battling drought for most of 2025.
In Edmonton, while there is forecast for more snow this week, warmer temperatures are hitting Tuesday and beyond.
Desjardins added, “We are looking at a little bit of pattern change. So, we are going to see a little bit of more mild conditions return to the prairies and Alberta over the end of the weekend, temperatures are swinging slightly above normal so that will be a nice reprieve from the cold that we have been seeing.”
This a welcome change for those who want to put their snow shovels away, even if it’s for a little bit.
