Popular Canadian tourist destination sees driest winter on record
The town measured its driest winter out of 134 years of recordkeeping
A town that relies heavily on winter getaways didn’t get much winter this year.
Banff, the popular Alberta resort destination, just wrapped up its driest winter ever observed. Nabbing the number-one spot is no small feat, either, since weather records in Banff stretch back to the late 1800s.
DON'T MISS: Spring fever hits Canada in March, but snowstorms still lurk
A very dry winter
A cold February couldn’t salvage this winter for parts of Western Canada as an unusually warm and dry pattern gripped the region through much of the season.
Banff just recorded its driest winter ever measured, according to data released by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). Weather records use meteorological seasons, which follow the months rather than astronomical seasons.
The town only saw 26 per cent of its normal precipitation for the season—15.8 mm of precipitation, down from the usual 59.9 they’d measure between Dec. 1 and Feb. 28. This was the least precipitation ever measured in Banff during the winter season since records began around 1891.
MUST SEE: What growing spring tourism in Banff park means for business and wildlife
Red Deer saw its third-driest winter on record, recording only 44 per cent of its normal winter precipitation. Folks in Calgary just saw the city’s fourth-driest winter since records began 141 years ago. The city only picked up 9.8 mm of precipitation throughout the season—just 29 per cent of normal.
Temperatures also ran on the warm side of seasonal for much of winter. The cold snap that descended on the region through much of February struggled to overpower the warmth we saw through December and January.
Banff’s average winter temperature came in 1.0°C warmer than normal, while Calgary, Red Deer, and Edmonton all came out of the season within one-half of one degree of average.
March is a very snowy month in Alberta
Even though we’re out of meteorological winter, it’s important to remember that the snow isn’t finished with us just yet.
RELATED: How the tropics help produce big springtime snows on the Prairies
In fact, March is the snowiest month of the year for a wide swath of Alberta. Calgary averages 23.8 cm of snow during a typical March, making this the city’s snowiest month. March is also Banff’s snowiest month, where they pick up 25.3 cm of snow in a typical March.
Winter storms often struggle to produce hefty accumulations across the western Prairies due to the bitterly cold temperatures present across the region.
Early-spring storms tapping into Gulf moisture from the south allows them to generate heavier snows than you’d typically see during the winter months, putting a damper on spring fever with the potential for formidable snowstorms in March and April.