Plenty of weather records were broken within Alberta over the past three months.

While December, January, and February are usually the coldest months, we had much warmer weather than what we were used to.

According to  Alysa Pederson, a warning preparedness meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada the winter as a whole in Alberta is ranked in the top 15 warmest winters since they started keeping statistics 140 years ago.

"The median temperature for winter this year in the Calgary area (including Airdrie) was -4.7 degrees, which tied with 1908 and 2007."

Alberta broke 78 different all-time high-temperature records in December. According to Pederson, the warmest winter was back in 1931 when the average temperature was -3.3 degrees.

December 2023 was the warmest in Airdrie ever and all of Alberta according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

"The median temperature was 0.1 degrees, our normal median temperature is around minus -6.8 degrees during December."

The last time Alberta had a December this warm was back in 1999 when the average was -0.6 degrees. Compared to December 2022, Airdrie saw a difference of 12 degrees.

January was a bit more of a mix, as it was warmer at the beginning and the end of the month but was bitterly cold in the middle. 

"We broke 75 records in the province that month when it comes to all-time highs. The Calgary area (Airdrie) broke a record on January 30 when they reached 14.5 degrees which squeaked by the old record of 14.4 degrees in 1993."

Mid-month from January 11-16, 112 all-time low records were broken across the province. Airdrie was not one of them.

In February, Alberta broke 55 all-time high-temperature records, and nine low-temperature records, though Airdrie was not on that list.

Pederson did state, that having an El Niño winter played a big role in the weather patterns. 

"It was a very strong El Niño, which changed how jet streams flow across our region. This year, that's what led to the extremes being so extreme and the temperatures changing so often."

The rise of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean is a natural climate pattern known as El Niño. El Niño normally lasts around nine to 12 months and happens every two to seven years on average which made Alberta and Canada see a warmer winter.

Make sure to keep the shovels close for this month and April as historically, they are the snowy months for Alberta. With that being said, Airdrie is expecting daytime highs around the 10-degree mark over the weekend before colder weather and snow is predicted to return later next week.

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