Bow Valley residents shivered in the cold and snow on Monday of last week, but exactly one week later basked in sunshine as the area enjoyed a near-record high of 25.6 C in Banff.
According to Environment Canada, Banff tied a record high temperature for May 6 that was set in 1966. The Banff weather station has been keeping records since 1892.
Though not official, local thermometers had Canmore closer to 28 C on Monday.
“It was very nice weather, and is a nice break from what we had last week,” said Bill McMurtry, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
“It looks like a great week shaping up and a great weekend as well.”
McMurtry said there were 11 places that reached record-breaking highs for May 6, including Edmonton, which was the hottest spot in the entire country, just behind La Tuque, Que., which reached 29.8 C.
The temperature soared to a record-breaking high of 31 C downtown Edmonton and 31.3 C at Edmonton International Airport. The previous May 6 record for that city was 28.3 C, set in 1966.
Several other Alberta towns broke records previously set on May 6, 1966, including the national park townsite of Jasper, Red Deer and Grande Prairie.
Jasper reached 26.9 C, breaking the previous May 6 record of 26.7 C set in 1966. Red Deer hit 29.2 C Monday, breaking the 1966 record of 27.8 C.
The temperature at Rocky Mountain House soared to 29.5 C, beating the previous May 6 record of 26.1 C set in 1953, while Sundre hit 29.3 C, well above the high of 24 C set in 1994.
McMurtry said it is not uncommon for May to have higher temperatures in the mid-20s, compared to June when there is a greater moist air mass.
“The air mass tends to be very dry in May and it takes less energy to heat dry air mass than it does to heat moist air mass,” he said.
“Once we start to get vegetation and plant growth – because plants emit moisture into the atmosphere – it takes more energy to heat up the moist atmosphere than dry.”
The seasonal forecast for the months of June, July and August – for almost all of Canada except for the northern reaches – indicate above normal temperatures.
“They don’t show to what extent or what degree above normal, though,” said McMurtry.
Meanwhile, Environment Canada statistics shows the Bow Valley was quite a bit warmer this past winter than for a normal year.
The lowest daytime temperature recorded in Banff in January was -11.9 C on Jan. 11, though the lowest nighttime temperature dipped to -27.4 Cthat same day.
There were 10 days in January when temperatures hit above zero during the day. The temperature reached 5.9 C on Jan. 17, the highest recorded temperature for that month in Banff.
Daytime temperatures in the Bow Valley also soared above zero on most days in February, reaching a high for that month of 6.4 C in Banff on Feb. 2.
The lowest daytime temperature was -1.5 C on Feb. 20, though it dipped to -16.1 C overnight on Feb. 10.
According to Environment Canada, the long-term average daily temperature is -9.3 C in January, -6 C in February and -1.4 C in March.
“In December, most locations were colder than most Decembers, plus there was a fair amount of snow,” said McMurtry. “However, once we got into January and February, we got back to back very warm months.”
According to Environment Canada, the warmest temperature ever recorded in Banff was 34.4 C on July 28, 1934, while the coldest was -51.2 C on Jan. 25, 1950.
