Winter appears to be finally releasing its grasp on the Bow Valley
Weather officials with Environment Canada say February and March have been significantly colder than normal, while January was typically four degrees warmer than usual. November and December experienced average temperatures.
“People are saying it’s been a cold and snowy winter, but it’s really been the last two months that make them feel that way because January was warmer than normal,” said Bill McMurtry, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
“The last two months we felt winter quite hard in Banff and Canmore though. The monthly average temperature in February was six degrees cooler than normal, and in March it was about 4.72 degrees cooler on average throughout the entire month.”
According to Environment Canada, January was a much warmer month than normal, with daytime temperatures going above zero on 17 days through the entire month.
The average daytime high for the month was -0.8 C, and the average overnight low was -9.5 C. The mean temperature for the month was -5 C.
“On average, it was four degrees warmer throughout January than normal. That’s a significant departure,” said McMurtry. “But then winter really hit in February and March.”
According to Environment Canada, the average daytime high in February was -5.9 C, while the average overnight low was -18.1 C. The mean temperature for February was -12 C. The warmest temperature recorded was 1.8 C on Feb. 15, while the minimum was -35.4 C on Feb. 4.
March got off to a super cold start with the temperature on the first day of the month never going above -19.7. The low point that day was -35.2.
The average daytime high throughout March was -0.5 and the average low was -11.6. The mean temperature was -6.1. There were 13 days in March where the temperature did not climb above zero.
“For March, the normal day time high is plus eight and the average overnight low is minus six, but we were far from that over the last little while,” McMurtry said.
McMurtry said Banff would typically expect to see about nine or 10 centimetres of snow on the ground by the end of March based on a 30-year average, but the station at Banff is measuring 34 cm on the ground.
“By the time we get to the end of March, we normally see melting occurring and snow reducing,” he said. “We haven’t seen that yet because we’ve seen some colder temperatures as well as some significant precipitation.”
McMurtry said the region should see an extended warmer period by the end of the week and into next week.
“As we get into April, we’ll see some warm air moving in from the Pacific and it should feel quite warm after what we experienced in February and March,” he said. “We do see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. We’ll start to see more spring-like conditions.”
