Here's a few records I keep in mind when dressing for Alberta weather:


December 27 and 28, 1999: It was so warm in parts of Alberta (as high as 20.6C in Claresholm) that grass fires broke out and trees sprouted leaves. It was hotter in Alberta than in parts of Mexico.

January 29-31, 1989: Alberta was experiencing a mild period during the latter part of January up until a particularly vicious cold front from the Yukon dropped temperatures from plus 2 C to -12 in the span of an hour, as it charged through Edmonton during morning rushhour on the 30th. Rain rapidly changed to heavy snow and the mercury fell to the -25 range and was still falling at noon. By that time the front had surged through Calgary, and by late afternoon the entire province was in the grips of a blizzard. The Edmonton area received the most snow, around 35 cm, an all-time January record. Portions of the province south and east of Red Deer were spared the snow, but still had to endure the bitterly cold winds. The effects of the storm lingered for days. Temperatures were in the minus 30's. In the Edmonton area alone, seven deaths were directly attributed to the storm's fury.

January 15th, 1971: A Chinook blew into Lethbridge, AB, raising the temperature from -20C to 1C in one hour.

January 6th, 1966: A spectacular weather change occurred at Pincher Creek, AB. Thermometer readings were -24.4C at 7 a.m., 0.6C at 8 a.m., and -21.7C at 9 a.m. The temperature remained steady until 3 p.m. and then rose to 2.2C for the rest of the day.

Rare no doubt but there are many more examples which are less extreme but still amazing...these are just some of the record weather events. Summer is no different sometimes but nobody dies when it goes from +30 during the day to freezing at night so it doesn't as often make the news or the record books LOL.