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Originally Posted by Metro-One
Already -42 in Red Deer.
Fascinating how it is so much more extreme than Edmonton (-33) and Calgary (-31) which it sits between. Is that all due to urban heat islands?
This cold snap still makes me laugh. In the face of every long term prediction / projection for this year.
Forecast mild benign January… experience a cold snap for the ages!
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Urban heat island has an impact but the averages suggest there is more going on in the difference between Edmonton City (Blatchford) and the airport, which is more prone to Red Deer like temps. All the other rural stations in the region also have warmer averages than the airport without the urban effect. Overnight lows in Stony Plain (a comparable distance from the city but to the west instead of south) are typically closer to Blatchford and around 6 degrees warmer than the Airport. Nights in particular just seem to get colder in central AB.
Being a bit of a natural “warm” spot combined with urban heat island means that Edmonton is the warmest station in the area, but the international airport is also often the coldest going back decades.
At the moment though, Edmonton is around 5 degrees warmer than most of the stations in the region. Looks like we bottomed out closer to -36 and the forecast for tonight is now -35… might still slip through this without a proper -40C recorded for the City. Still cold AF but in a range that has happened a few times in the last 50 years.
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