u/Few-Leading-3405

May 2026 gave us a late frost, a later heatwave, and an even later start to our monsoon season:

• May 2026's average High of 20.1°C was the 16th warmest on record. The average Low of 6.8°C was 18th. Compared to recent years that's close to 2025, 2024 was pretty cool, and 2023 was our warmest May on record (by far).
• May averages 2 Highs of 25°C, and we got 6. And we had 2 Highs get to 30°C. Recently 2025 had 3, 2022 also had 2, and 2016-2019 all got to 30°C.
• Our hottest day of the year usually happens in July or August. But since 1880 there have been 18 years where the hottest day occurred in May. Recently that included 2019 (30.6°C), 2016 (30°C) & 2010 (30.3°C).
• The average date of Blatchford's final frost is May 5th. 2026 was pretty late, dragging it out to the Victoria Day Long weekend on May 17th. Stony Plain's was also May 17th, when their average is May 10th. The airport's was May 21st, although it could still see frost in June.
• May 2026 was snowfree! In May we average 5cm, but it is snowfree around half of the time.
• For a whole winter we average around 120cm of snow. The airport ends with 133.5cm, but 60cm of that was all in December. Uncas near Sherwood Park is the only other local station which records snow, and it got to 186cm after a very snowy April.
• Our summer monsoon season usually gets started around mid-May, but this year it waited until the very end. In May we average around 50mm of precipitation. Blatchford ends up with 33mm, the airport with 26mm, and Stony Plain with 27mm.
• For storms it was a very quiet month...right up until the 31st dropped 22mm onto Blatchford, the airport, and Stony Plain.
• By the end of May we average around 125mm of precipitation for the year. After a low May, but an above average March & April the local stations range from 92mm at the airport to 122mm at Blatchford.

In June usually about half of the Highs are above 20°C, with maybe a week above 25°C. The last time that Blatchford had a June frost was 1942. But we've had snow in June in 2011, 1967, 1922 and 1888.

There are more details, images, and across-Canada comparisons at mastondon & bluesky:

• https://bsky.app/profile/yegwxnerdery.bsky.social/post/3mnamykxmr22c
• https://mstdn.ca/@yegwxnerdery/116676073507263743

And the blog has interactive (but slow) dashboards for 17 cities:

• https://edmontonweathernerdery.blogspot.com/2026/06/may-2026-review.html

As the prophesies foretold, we got a May Long Weekend frost:

• Our average final frost is May 5th, but 2026's May 17th is pretty late. It's 1 day after 2025's May 16th, but earlier than 2021's May 21st. 2024, 2023 & 2020 were all around April 20th. (dashboard)
• May 17th happens to be the day when Blatchford's historic risk of frost drops to 10%, so we were right on that. Stony Plain's is a few days later on the 20th. While the airport and Campsie aren't until mid-June. (dashboard)
• And it wasn't just a little frost. -2.3°C is cold for this time of year. That's the 3rd coldest May 17th on record, behind -2.8°C in 1881 and -3.9°C in 1888. (dashboard)
• May 16th was also pretty chilly for us. The High of 9.9°C was the 7th coldest on record, and the coldest since 1977. The Low of 1.1°C is around bottom-25, but last year 2025's Low of -0.8°C was colder. (dashboard)

But Calgary got snow, so that's fun:

• In May they actually average around 15cm of snow. So far they're at 1cm, so 2026 will probably be a pretty low-snow May for them.
• Their recent years with snow on or after May 16th were 2026, 2023, 2022, 2021 & 2015. (dashboard)

The May Long Weekend is infamous for its camping weather:

• The average High is 17°C and Low is 6°C. (dashboard)
• Recent summery years which got to 25°C were 2023, 2018, 2017, 2008...
• Recent frosty years with Lows below freezing were 2025, 2021, 2015, 2009...
• 2023 was very warm, with Highs from 23.2°C to 28°C. But it was also choked with smoke, because that's a thing now.

My aussie's border collie buddy is visiting us for the day.

The last time that we recorded any precipitation was 2 weeks ago, on April 26th.

• On the plus side, we are at the point of the year where the switch usually gets flipped, and our monsoon season kicks in. (dashboard)
• We average around 430mm of total precipitation in a year. More than half of that (around 230mm) is during the 90 days from May 15-August 15. (dashboard)
• May averages 48mm, but obviously some years are low. 2022, 2019, 2018 and 2015 were around 20mm. (dashboard)
• But temperatures can get to 25°C or 30°C early in May, and in dry years that can leave things very sparky. (dashboard)

May 5th is the average day of Blatchford's final frost. So half of the time we're done, and half of the time there's more to come.

• By May 11th there's still a 25% risk of frost, and by May 17th it's down to 10%. (dashboard)
• In recent years 2025 was pretty late on May 16th, and 2021 waited until May 21st. While 2024, 2023 & 2022 were all done back around April 20th. (dashboard)
• Blatchford is obviously not the same as the outlying areas. Although Stony Plain tends to be only a few days behind downtown. The airport, on the other hand is several weeks later. Stony Plain's 10% risk day is May 21st, while the airport's is June 10th. (dashboard)
• Compared to the other prairie cities Edmonton's growing season is actually a few weeks longer. And weirdly our final spring frost is not that different from the East coast. (dashboard)

Yup, April was cold.

• The average High of 8.3°C was the 111th warmest on record. The average Low of -2.6°C was 105th. That's in the same range as 2020 & 2018, and warmer than 2013. But it wasn't cold enough to be a March, which are typically around 6°C colder.
• This spring just hasn't been able to string together more than a few warm days in-a-row. January had 6 5°C Highs in-a-row, and February had 12. But since then we've only had a few here or there. So winter felt more like spring than spring has so far.
• In spite of the recent cold, the average date of Blatchford's final frost is just one week away, on May 6th. 2025's was pretty late on May 16st, while 2024, 2023 & 2020 were all done around April 20th.
• April averages 13cm of snow, and 2026 was just a bit above average with 14.8cm. But April had 9 days with snow, while the average is only around 5.
• It's tough to remember now, but the snow got a really late start this winter, waiting until November 28th. But the final melt was about as late as we get, along with other late years like 2020, 2018 & 2013.
• Everyone wants the snow to be over, but in May we do average another 5cm. About half of the time May is snowfree. The other half will usually be done around the first week or so, but 2011 waited until June 4th.
• For May we average a week or two above 20°C, and quite often we will reach 30°C. About a third of the time our final frost is in April, but May often has a few of frosty nights.

I try to keep things short for reddit, but there's tons more detail and images at:

• bluesky
• mastodon

And the blog has dashboards to play with:
https://edmontonweathernerdery.blogspot.com/2026/04/april-2026-review.html