Didsbury Alberta Unoffical Weather Station

Since I had April’s data loaded into Google Gemini AI, here is the temperature summary for this year compared to the last 14 years.

By calculating the average of the daily mean temperatures (TEMP) recorded in the sources for each April, the years in Didsbury, Alberta, rank as follows from warmest to coolest:

1. 2016: 8.5°C
2. 2015: 6.0°C
3. 2025: 5.5°C
4. 2024: 5.4°C
5. 2023: 4.9°C
6. 2021: 4.8°C
7. 2026: 4.6°C (Based on data through April 24)
8. 2019: 4.6°C
9. 2017: 3.9°C
10. 2014: 3.7°C
11. 2020: 2.2°C
12. 2022: 1.8°C
13. 2013: 1.4°C
14. 2018: 0.6°C

Key Insights from the Mean Temperature Data

• Warmest Year (2016): This year was significantly warmer than any other on record, largely due to a massive late-month heatwave where temperatures reached 29.7°C on April 19 and only dropped below freezing on 11 nights.
• Coolest Year (2018): Despite having fewer total freezing nights than some other years (19 nights), 2018 was the coolest overall because of an extreme cold snap early in the month where daily mean temperatures were as low as -14.1°C.
• 2026 Comparison: Through the first 24 days, 2026 is tracking very similarly to 2019 and 2021, which both saw a mix of early-month freezes and mid-to-late month warming.
• Standard Cold Baselines: In the coolest years (2018, 2013, 2022, 2020), the low monthly mean temperature is driven by persistent daytime freezes (Max ? 0.0°C), which occurred between 4 and 9 times in those specific years

Last couple of days have seen some very high wind speeds, which seem higher than usage for this time of the year. My weather station as been recording data since August 2012, so I put all the April data into Google Gemini AI and had it figure out some wind stats. Here is what it came up with:

Based on the recorded wind gusts and daily average speeds, 2026 was the windiest year for the month of April in Didsbury, Alberta.

While both 2015 and 2026 share the record for the highest individual wind gust at 80.5 km/h, 2026 is the overall windiest due to its significantly higher sustained daily wind speeds.

Peak Wind Gusts by Year

The highest gusts (above 60 km/h) recorded during the April period are:

• 2026: 80.5 km/h on April 24, with another major gust of 77.2 km/h on the 23rd.
• 2015: 80.5 km/h on April 1.
• 2013, 2014, and 2016: All recorded peak gusts of 69.2 km/h (April 20, 2013; April 8, 2014; and April 5, 2016).
• 2020 and 2021: Both reached 62.8 km/h (April 25, 2020, and April 21, 2021).
• 2019 and 2022: Both reached 61.2 km/h (April 17, 2019, and April 9, 2022).

Highest Sustained Wind Speeds

2026 stands out as having the most intense sustained wind activity. On April 24, 2026, the daily average wind speed reached 38.8 km/h, which is the highest recorded average in the dataset. Other years with notable daily average wind speeds include:

• 2024: 24.8 km/h (April 17).
• 2015: 23.5 km/h (April 1).
• 2016: 23.0 km/h (April 9).

Annual Comparison of Peak Gusts

Consecutive Days of high Wind speeds over 60km/h

Based on the sources, 2026 is the only year in the recorded data that featured a consecutive multi-day streak of wind gusts exceeding 60 km/h.

While several other years had multiple days within the same month that reached this wind threshold, those events were always separated by days of calmer weather:

• 2014: Recorded high gusts on April 8 (69.2 km/h) and April 11 (64.4 km/h), but they were separated by two days of lower wind speeds.
• 2016: Had high gusts on April 5 (69.2 km/h) and April 9 (61.2 km/h), separated by three days.
• 2026: In addition to the streak you mentioned, this year also had an earlier isolated high gust of 61.2 km/h on April 7.

The three-day streak in 2026 stands out as unique, with the following consecutive readings:

• April 22: 61.2 km/h
• April 23: 77.2 km/h
• April 24: 80.5 km/h

So like my weather station console report, “Hold onto your hat”, it has been some very unique weather the last few days.

Cheers