Historic warmth has blanketed the Prairies so far in February
Temperatures averaged more than 10 degrees above average through the first half of the month
An unseasonable pattern draped over the western half of the Prairies has driven a historic spell of mid-winter warmth throughout the region.
Even though the above-seasonal readings are on borrowed time, many communities across Alberta and Saskatchewan have already notched their warmest first half of February on record.
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Records fall in Alberta and Saskatchewan
Persistent ridges of high pressure over Western Canada have kept wintry weather at bay for the past couple of weeks.
This pattern resulted in unseasonably warm temperatures across Alberta and Saskatchewan in particular, where many communities just witnessed their warmest-ever first two weeks of February.
These daily average temperatures take into account both daytime highs and overnight lows.
Alberta:
Since the start of the month, Pincher Creek has seen an average temperature of 5.4°C, which beats the previous record of 5.2°C set back in 1991.
Calgary’s average of 4.8°C zaps the previous record of 3.2°C set all the way back in 1936. For reference, Calgary’s daily average temperature hovers around -5°C through the first half of February.
It’s a similar story over in Edmonton, where the 2.2°C average bests the previous warmest start to February, which had an average temperature of 1.4°C in 1889.
Saskatchewan:
Even communities that saw subfreezing temperatures still experienced record high values.
Saskatoon’s average temperature of -3.2°C beats the old record from 1934 by more than one-half of a degree.
Kindersley’s previous record of -1.2°C in 1991 fell to this month’s average temperature of -0.5°C.
Estevan also managed to eke out a new record with an average of -0.8°C, just squeezing by the previous record from 1987.