'California air' brings record heat to Edmonton

Hot desert air blowing up from the southern United States led to record-breaking temperatures on Monday in Edmonton.

'This is desert air ... that is just giving us a taste of what the dog days of summer would look like'

CBC News Posted: Apr 19, 2016 4:55 PM EDT | Last Updated: April 19, 2016

Edmontonians were peeling off their jackets and boots to enjoy a rare April heatwave. (Canadian Press)

Hot desertair blowing up from the southern United States led torecord-breaking temperatures on MondayinEdmonton.

Temperatures in the citysoared to 26.2C at 6 p.m., officially breaking a 106-year-old record from 1910, when the city hit 25C.

But rewind to this date two years ago and Edmonton was getting hammered by an icyspring blizzard, whichburied the region in five centimetres of snow, and left roads dangerously slick.

"Clearly, this a California air," Dave Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada, said during a Tuesday interview on CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

Normally, the average daytime temperature in Edmonton in mid-April is around 13C.

But an arid weather system moving through Alberta has created the unseasonablehotspell.

"A big high-pressure area is just pumping all this in," Phillips said. "This is not Pacific air, this is desert air that is just bringing it northward and giving us a taste of what the dog days of summer would look like."

Record temperatures hit Edmonton

9 years ago

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Temperatures in Edmonton soared to 26.2C on Monday, officially breaking a record from 1910 when the city hit 25C. Rewind to this date last year, and Edmonton was getting hammered with a spring blizzard.

Edmonton wasn't the only city feeling the heat.As of Monday evening, temperature records had been broken in nearly 30 other communities across Alberta, includingFort McMurray, Red Deer and Grande Prairie.

But don't put on your boots and coats on ice just yet, warned Phillips.

"It's not time to bring out the muscle shirts and tank tops, and think that's it, spring has arrived and there is no going back. This is a bit of a heat bubble,and it's going to burst."

There has never been a year where Edmonton didn't have frost sometime after April 19, and only seven years on record where snow failed to make appearance after that date.

"I wouldn't necessarily count out a return to some sort of coolish weather. But this April heatwave has been well-received for sure."

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