Skip to content

Watch: Above average snow in April in Red Deer so far

A wet white blanket of snow covered the city of Red Deer Monday and early Tuesday.

A wet white blanket of snow covered the city of Red Deer Monday and early Tuesday.

The long-term average is about 14 centimetres of snow for the month, according to Environment Canada. So far, Red Deer has seen 18.4 centimetres in April.

Dan Kulak, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said weather in April and May varies year-to-year. In April 2017, for example, Red Deer saw 22 centimetres of snow. The previous year in 2016, there were four centimetres and seven centimetres in 2015 and 2014.

But the snowy weather isn’t stopping Red Deerians from enjoying the outdoors.

Leia Andrews, a Red Deer resident, said she is trying to stay active, but it’s challenging with the unpredictable weather.

“It’s easy to complain about weather like this and trying to get outside,” adding that she hasn’t switched her tires yet, but she can’t wait for summer.

“It’s weird (for snow in middle of April) but it’s also Alberta,” she said.

Kulak, based in Edmonton, said starting Wednesday temperatures will warm up and will stay that way for most of the week.

February and March have also been wet in Red Deer, but that makes up for January – a dry month this winter.

In January, the city received 13.2 centimetres of snow compared to the long-term average of 18.6 centimetres.

In March, the city saw about 35.2 centimetres of snow versus the long-term average of 20.4 centimetres.

“So significantly more than that 30-year average (between 1981 to 2010),” he said.

Red Deer also received more than average amount of snow in February (23 centimetres) with the long term average at 14.5 centimetres.

Kulak said despite the wet and dry months, snow in December, January and February combined has been close to the long-term average at 46.6 centimetres.

Both December and January have been close to average, temperature wise, while February and March have been about 7 and 4 C below average.



mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

11490316_web1_180417-RDA-weather-winter_2
11490316_web1_180417-RDA-weather-winter_3
11490316_web1_180417-RDA-weather-winter_4