The Coldest Edmonton Winter Ever Recorded
It's about that time of year when Edmontonians start complaining about how cold it is outside. "Oh my god, it took me an hour and a half to get through the Henday," one of your coworkers will probably announce to the entire office. "My back is killing me from all that shovelling and ice scraping this morning," says your one neighbour to the other as he conveniently pushes his snowblower through his driveway with a dirty grin on his face.
But let's face it, it could get worse--and we mean much worse. Having been one of the oldest Ford dealers in Edmonton (for almost 50 years, might we add), we were there during the biggest coldsnap in our city's history! How cold? Temperatures during this cold snap reached a low of almost -40 degrees Celsius. Take a look and learn more about how it happened!
Our Climate
Before we get into how ridiculous Edmonton's weather really was at that time, it's worth noting what our climate is typically like, without diving into the many hyperboles we can think of around this time of the year. Edmonton is among one of the cities in the country with the coldest winters, behind Saskatoon, Regina, and Winnipeg (all of which happen to be south of Edmonton in latitude). Edmonton's location in the prairies makes for very dry winters and summers, since there are no large bodies of water close enough to cause noticeable humidity. The lack of humidity in the city also makes for very cold winters and fairly hot summers during peak months out of the year.
The Deep Freeze of '69
Come next month, it will mark the 49th anniversary of one of the coldest deep freezes ever recorded in Edmonton's history. In 1969, Edmonton Blatchford recorded 26 days straight of daytime high temperatures which didn't break over -21 degrees Celsius (much to Bryan Adam's chagrin). From January 7th, all the way to February 1st, Edmonton was basically a frozen wasteland. The deep freeze of '69 was such a big deal at the time, the Edmonton Journal even made a certificate you could cut out from the paper and sign as proof that you were there when it happened! The bottom of the certificate also listed the high and low temperature for each day of the deep freeze.
Since then, our North Edmonton dealership has always made an effort to prepare for cold snaps like this with a wide array of winter accessories and services available for you to take advantage of, so make sure to stop by when you need to winterize your vehicle!
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