Edmonton just got more snow in a day then it has received all winter

The winter storm that lashed the Edmonton region Sunday afternoon into Monday brought with it plenty of precipitation, dropping more snow in less than a day than the entire winter season.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) stated yesterday that the system was “the largest winter storm of the season” and brought significant snowfall with it, with a snowfall warning being issued for much of central and western Alberta on Sunday by ECCC due to the impending storm, with the forecast calling for up to 25 cm of snow in areas west of Edmonton.

You might also like:
• The City of Edmonton is hiring for so many jobs and some pay over $100K
• 75 of the best things to see and do in Alberta to fully experience it
• The March forecast for Alberta is out and don't say goodbye to the snow just yet

Daily Hive spoke with Alysa Pederson, warning preparedness meteorologist with ECCC, who said that up to this year, Edmonton only had about 20 centimetres of snow from December through February, with the largest snowfall event of the season occurring in January when eight centimetres of snow fell.

“This recent event we had about 20 to 30 centimetres of snow, it’s a pretty fair comparison, the amount of snow we had all winter is what we got in about 18 hours. We went from ice patches across the city to having snow drifts that were waist-high in some places.”

When it comes to heavy snowfall events like the one the capital region just experienced, Pederson added you’d have to go back to November 2022 for a storm that dropped more than 15 centimetres of snow in one go.

“It happens once every couple of years, but it’s guaranteed it’ll happen somewhere in Alberta every year.”

For a full rundown of the storm, here are the snowfall reports from ECCC posted on its weather summaries page Tuesday morning:

St. Albert: 30 cm
Edmonton: 20-30 cm
Stony Plain: 21 cm
Sherwood Park: 20 cm
Elk Island National Park: 18 cm
Camrose: 17 cm
Edmonton Int’l Airport: 15 cm
Edson: 15 cm
Beaverlodge: 12 cm
Pekisko: 12 cm
Whitecourt: 11 cm
Nordegg: 8 cm
Rocky Mountain House: 6 cm

ECCC added that the summary provided may contain preliminary or unofficial information and does not constitute a complete or final report.

If you want to see what could be in store weather-wise for March in Alberta, we got you covered with all the details.