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By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

WARM SPRING FOLLOWS DRY WINTER

Spring season predicted to be warmer than normal for Red Deer region

Mar 20, 2025 | 1:28 PM

Central Albertans should buckle up for a warmer than normal spring, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).

While the warmth is sure to be welcomed by residents, Christy Climenhaga, an ECCC scientist, says we’ll have to see adequate rainfall and precipitation over the season to compensate for what was the third driest winter the region has ever seen.

“As we head into the next few months, if we do have very hot conditions and if we don’t see a lot of precipitation, which we’re not sure quite yet, but that is something to keep in mind because it can have an effect on what kind of summer — and beyond — that we’ll see,” she explained.

On average, the Red Deer region tends to see about 42 mm of precipitation over the winter months. This winter, there was about 18.8 mm recorded. This could indicate a trend in the region, as the second- and first-driest winters also occurred within the last five years (2022 and 2021, respectively). Climenhaga said the last time Red Deer came close to meeting that mark was around 2020 or 2018.

While precipitation was low, temperatures were “generally close to normal,” she said. Red Deer’s typical average winter temperature is -10.6°C and last winter landed at -10.7°C.

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“We had a really lengthy cold snap in Alberta and through the rest of the prairies for the first — at least — half of February if not a little longer before we got back to the warmer weather,” she explained. “That cool down to end the winter really kind of skewed our numbers.”

Since an average accounts for the highs and lows of every day across the season, Climenhaga said average temperature fails to tell the whole story. For example, Red Deer fell within 0.1 degrees of its typical average temperature, however, temperatures varied month-to-month, with the region seeing a milder December, but a lingering extreme cold snap in February.

When it came to snowfall, Climenhaga explained that ECCC’s recording methods have changed, so she couldn’t provide data specific to Red Deer and the surrounding area. She did infer from the low precipitation, however, that snowfall was likely lower than normal.

She added that March tends to be the snowiest month in the region, at an average of 23 cm. We haven’t hit that yet, so while there isn’t snow in the forecast, she said it wouldn’t be out of the blue to see one last dump before the end of the month.

Otherwise, Climenhaga advised that spring will be a little unpredictable.

“This is also the time where we start to get some of those messy systems where you see rain, freezing rain, snow, so something to keep in mind too,” she said.

While the volatility of spring makes precipitation difficult to predict, she hopes we see enough moisture to balance out the warmer-than-normal temperatures expected before we head into summer.

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