In 2019, Lethbridge experienced the second-coldest February on record; in 2020, the city is seeing above-average temperatures.
“I think we were all a little nervous heading into this month that it might turn out like last year and thankfully, it didn’t,” said Paul Dunphy, a weather specialist with Global News, on Wednesday.
“I know there are a few days left in the month but so far, 3 C has been our average daytime high and -10 C is our usual early morning lows.”
While there is still some snow lingering on the ground, the temperature is 11 degrees warmer this month compared to February 2019.
“Last year, we were well below average and that is obviously stuck in our memory forever,” Dunphy said.
“We had -14 C as the average daytime high last year and -20 C as the average early morning low.”
Dunphy said historically, Lethbridge has a daytime high of 2 C with an overnight low of -11 C.
This February’s seemingly mild temperatures have had city officials sighing with relief.
In 2019, the city saw 20 water main breaks due to deep frost.
This year, infrastructure is holding up much better, according to Leanne Lammersten, the water and wastewater operations manager with the City of Lethbridge.
“Our work this winter has been pretty average. It might even be a little below average right now,” Lammersten said.
“Of course, we’re only at the end of February and we could still experience water main breaks that happen as a result of quick temperature fluctuations in the ground. We can still expect that in March or April.”
Lammersten said this month’s warmer temperatures have also been easier on the city’s budget.
“This is part of our operations. We expect it and we budget for it,” she said.
“Last year was an anomaly as far as the volume of water main breaks that we had, but this year we don’t expect to exceed our budget as a result of water main breaks.”
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