After some bitterly cold days to end 2016, Calgarians are finding themselves locked in a deep-freeze once again.
Another blast of Arctic air is hanging over the Prairies and is expected to remain in place for at least a week.
Average temperatures in Calgary normally range between -3 C to -15 C for the start of January. Forecast models are suggesting it will not get above -7 C this week with overnight temperatures as low as -22 C.
This is coming on the heels of snowfall warnings for much of southern Alberta and treacherous road conditions within the city of Calgary on Jan. 2.
READ MORE: Snow-covered roads cause multiple collisions on Calgary streets
Dreaming of a white Christmas
Calgary was one of many cities who recorded an official white Christmas in 2016. Environment Canada defines a white Christmas as the presence of two or more centimetres of snow on the ground at 7 a.m. EST. Dec. 25.
Not only did Calgary have a white Christmas this past year, it also had a “Perfect Christmas,” with two or more centimetres on the ground and snow in the air sometime on Christmas Day.
Going one step further, Calgary appears to have received a record amount of snowfall on Dec. 23 and Dec. 24, according to Environment Canada’s historical data.
Calgary recorded 8.2 cm of snow at the airport on Dec. 23 and 5.6 cm of snow on Dec. 24.
Chilly December
The final month of 2016 certainly had some unusually cold weather.
READ MORE: It has not been this cold in Calgary in almost 1,000 days
According to the monthly mean temperature, or average temperature, this past December was the ninth coldest in 40 years. The mean temperature for the month was -10.3 C with it only ever getting above freezing 10 days out of 31.
Even with stretches of cold weather that seemed to never end, this December was practically balmy compared to the same month in 1983 when the mean temperature was -17.1 C.
That December had 14 days where it did not get above -15 C, and only about 29 hours all month where it was above 0 C.
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