Among Canada’s 100 largest cities, Red Deer is ranked fifth when it comes to having the most days per year with a temperature at or below 0C.
According to Environment Canada’s Weather Winners, Red Deer had 211.42 days annually when the temperature dropped to freezing or colder during the last 30 years.
But there’s a ray of sun — Red Deer is also the sixth sunniest city between November and March, with 121.38 days with some sunshine.
Thompson, Man., had the most freezing days with 239.85, followed by Whitehorse, N.W.T., Yellowknife and Rouyn-Noranda, Que. Calgary ranked 19th with 195.95 days and Edmonton 40th with 178.56.
Calgary had the most sunny days during cold months with 131.50, followed by Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw and Estevan, Sask., and Lethbridge. Edmonton was seventh at 120.91.
Today, the first official day of winter, Red Deer was forecast to be colder than normal with a high of -15C. The normal is -5.
But today should be better than last year when it comes to shovelling. On Dec. 21, 2009, Red Deer had eight cm of snow, the most snow the city has seen on the first day of the frozen season.
Temperatures should warm up as the week goes on.
“It’s going to be sunny until Sunday, so it’s a nice stretch of nice weather. It’s looking pretty good,” said Louis Kohanyi, Environment Canada meteorologist.
“On Saturday, it’s going to be near normals.”
The forecast high for Christmas Day is -5C in Red Deer, with a 30 to 40 per cent chance of flurries. The city’s warmest Dec. 25 — 9.1 C — was in 2005.
Let’s just hope the wind doesn’t pick up speed.
Red Deer was ranked sixth in Weather Winners for extreme wind chill between 1952 and 2000.
On Jan. 26, 1972, the city had a windchill of -60.14C. During those 48 years, Yellowknife had the worst windchill at -63.99C, followed by Thompson with -63.45, Grande Prairie at -63.02, Whitehorse at -62.41, and Saskatoon at -60.92.
“Windchill is an issue in Red Deer,” Kohanyi said.
In December, the city has an average of 17 days with a windchill colder than -20 C, seven days colder than -30 and two days colder than -40.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com