EDMONTON - Generations from now, grizzled old Edmontonians might sit their great-grandchildren down and regale them with stories about the wild weather of 2011.
It tested the endurance of the heartiest citizens. January alone had six months worth of snow — 64 centimetres — forcing the city to move mountains while marooning cars under windrows. All told, the 2010-2011 winter season saw thermometers dip below the -20 C mark 63 times, 50 per cent more than usual.
As the icy, muddy mess melted and froze again, potholes abounded, forcing the city to fill countless dings, divots, and ditches.
Spring showers burst some city sewers, leaving pools and puddles that became breeding grounds for millions of mosquitoes. The city sprayed pesticide to kill the bloodsuckers. Armies of aphids followed, raining sticky goo on windshields everywhere.
Summer wasn’t even hot. Between May and August, temperatures hit 25 C just 14 times, about half the number of warm days as usual.
But the year ended with a pleasant final quarter. Local farmers reaped a plentiful harvest, city construction workers made up for lost time, and Edmonton flirted with 30 C in the second week of September, the warmest days of the year. It was even hot enough to finally melt the last pile of snow at the city’s west-end storage facility.
Snow didn’t fall again until mid-November, another weird weather record. As always, Edmontonians nervously waited for what would come next.
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