Photo: Qyd · CC BY-SA 3.0Edson sits near the top of Canadian towns for frosts
July afternoons average 22.2°C. Precipitation follows the seasons: July brings about 6.2 times as much as February. Summers stay cool: July afternoons here are cooler than in 97% of Canadian towns. Wet days, with 1 mm of rain or snow or more, come about 93 times a year.
1991–2020 normals from ECCC’s Edson station, 2.3 km south-west.
A year in Edson at a glance
Each month’s typical high and low, in °C.
What stands out about Edson’s climate
Compared with Canadian towns, with its place among towns of 2,500+ in Alberta beside it.
What a year in Edson feels like
Seasons and months as ECCC’s 1991–2020 normals give them: a typical day’s high and low.
218 frost days and 76 days above 20°C a year
From September to May frost is routine, and in January it comes on almost every night. Deep cold, under −20°C, comes on about 32 nights a year.
Frost days by month
Average days at 0°C or below
Days above 20°C by month
Average days
About 489 mm of rain and snow a year
Rain and snow by month
Millimetres
About 175 cm of snow a year
Snow falls from September to May, most of all in January (about 35 cm). 7th snowiest of 474 towns of 2,500+ in Alberta.
Snowfall by month
Centimetres
Snowfall: Whitecourt, 75 km away (Edson records no complete year of it).
Heating a home in Edson
84% of a year’s heating need falls between October and April. Months averaging under 10°C: September to May.
Heating degree days total each day’s gap between its mean temperature and 18°C. In heating terms, homes need more heating than 84% of Canadian towns.
Living with Edson’s climate
The averages read for the garden, the outdoors and the coldest and hottest days.
Gardens get from about 4 June to 4 September without frost, around 91 days in all.
Afternoons of 17–27°C and nights of at least 8°C arrive in Jul.
Parks & trails →Roughly 56 days a year feel colder than −20 in the wind.
Muggy heat with a humidex over 30 arrives on about 5 days a year.
What averages leave out, the floods and ice storms, is on Edson’s hazards page.
Flood & hazards →ECCC’s normals location: Edson
ECCC builds the Edson normals from 5 stations’ records over 1991–2020, joined where one replaced another.
| Distance from the town | 2.3 km south-west |
| Station altitude | 927 m |
| Completeness | meets the WMO “3 and 5” rule |
| WMO standard normals | No |
| Snowfall from | Whitecourt, 75 km |
| Coldest reading, 1991–2020 | −44.2°C |
| Hottest reading, 1991–2020 | 33.4°C |
| Average wind | 7.5 km/h on average, most often from the west |
| Next-nearest location | Whitecourt, 75 km |
How Edson compares
Against the 2,611 Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, each read from its own normals location; the dots are the other locations those towns use in Alberta.
Nearby towns’ climate
Nearby places read from a different ECCC location (places on Edson’s own would show the same figures). The nearest places to Edson with figures are 78–95 km away.
| Town | July high | January low | Rain & snow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edson | 22.2°C | −17.0°C | 489 mm |
| Hinton 78 km · Jasper | 23.4°C 1.2°C warmer | −14.4°C 2.6°C milder | 376 mm |
| Whitecourt 79 km · Whitecourt | 22.2°C about the same | −16.0°C 1.0°C milder | 521 mm |
| Mayerthorpe 95 km · Campsie | 23.5°C 1.3°C warmer | −19.0°C 2.0°C colder | 466 mm |
Edson weather by month
Average daily high and low, mean temperature, rain and snow (as water) and snowfall by month, 1991–2020.
| Month | High | Low | Mean | Rain & snow | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | −4.2°C | −17.0°C | −10.6°C | 25 mm | 35 cm |
| February | −0.7°C | −14.9°C | −7.8°C | 15 mm | 20 cm |
| March | 3.4°C | −10.3°C | −3.5°C | 20 mm | 26 cm |
| April | 10.2°C | −3.5°C | 3.4°C | 26 mm | 17 cm |
| May | 16.1°C | 2.0°C | 9.0°C | 57 mm | 6 cm |
| June | 19.6°C | 6.4°C | 13.0°C | 79 mm | 0 cm |
| July | 22.2°C | 8.7°C | 15.5°C | 92 mm | 0 cm |
| August | 21.4°C | 7.4°C | 14.4°C | 67 mm | 0 cm |
| September | 16.6°C | 2.6°C | 9.6°C | 44 mm | 3 cm |
| October | 9.2°C | −3.3°C | 3.0°C | 27 mm | 19 cm |
| November | 0.7°C | −10.5°C | −4.9°C | 21 mm | 25 cm |
| December | −4.3°C | −16.2°C | −10.3°C | 18 mm | 25 cm |
| Year | 9.2°C | −4.1°C | 2.6°C | 489 mm | 175 cm |
February varies most from one year to the next (4.2°C), June least
Each bar spans a month’s coldest and warmest readings over thirty years; March’s run from −38.7°C in 2003 to 22.1°C in 2004.
Where Edson’s numbers come from
Averages over 30 years, not a forecast.
- Normals: the Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020, at Edson (the closest location with all twelve months of temperatures).
- Other locations: where a location publishes no full year of precipitation or snowfall, the nearest one that does supplies it, named beside those figures.
- Comparisons: Canadian towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500, each placed by its nearest location (city totals and reserves excluded).
- Not on this page: sunshine, which none of ECCC’s 450 locations publishes for 1991–2020, and the town’s own height above sea level, so no figure is adjusted for altitude.
Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020 · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence. Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
Questions about Edson’s climate
How warm does Edson get in summer?
The warmest month is July, when afternoons average 22.2°C.
How cold does Edson get in winter?
In January, the coldest month, the typical low is −17.0°C.
How much rain and snow does Edson get?
489 mm a year counting snow as water. The wettest month is July (92 mm); the driest, February (15 mm).
Are these figures for Edson itself?
Yes: ECCC’s normals station is inside Edson itself.
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada · ECCC Data Services End-use Licence Today’s forecast for Edson →
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).