There were some cranky faces around the office today ’cause most of my colleagues are sick of the cold. It’s understandable, because you have to look a long way into the past to find a similarly cold early April.
The beginning of April will typically see temperatures range from -5° Celsius in the morning to 6° C in the afternoon. This week won’t come close. It likely won’t even get to 0° C all week with many days seeing temperatures around 10° C colder than normal.
Tuesday morning calls for a low of -21° C. Yes, that is cold but it’s not a record — that was set in 1932, when the low sank to -27.8° C. In fact, none of the temperatures forecast for the next 5 days will set records, but they are rare for April.
RELATED: Alberta sets new records as temperatures drop 15 degrees in mere minutes Saturday
Looking back, there are a few years with similar cold starts to the month:
- In 2013, five of the first ten days of April had temperatures drop to below -15° C. There were some milder days in there though. It wasn’t as consistently cold because one day in this stretch even got above 0° C.
- In 1997 there were six days straight with temperatures falling below -15° C. Three more days around this stretch went below -10° C and stayed there without warming-up during daylight hours. Now that’s cold!
I know 1997 isn’t a year people like to use as a comparison (after the Flood of the Century) but it looks like it is the closest situation to what we’re seeing this year.
If it is any consolation, there are snowfall warnings around the Rockies and winter storm warnings south of the border and east of the Great Lakes.
READ MORE: When will winter end?!? Edmonton could see coldest start to April in 16 years
So, while southern Manitoba is dealing with some seriously cold conditions for April, we are not alone. A lot of the continent is feeling an extended winter as well.
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