{"id":830070,"date":"2026-07-27T22:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T22:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830070\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T22:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T22:13:09","slug":"edmonton-has-blasted-past-its-73-year-summer-rainfall-record-daily-hive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830070\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton has blasted past its 73-year summer rainfall record | Daily Hive"},"content":{"rendered":"

We don\u2019t have to convince you it\u2019s been a rough summer weather-wise in Edmonton. In fact, lightning knocked out the power to our building while we were writing this. Between the storms and the smoke, we\u2019re starting to wonder what we did to deserve this.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just anecdotal. The city has already blown past its summer rainfall record, and while August is usually when things start to dry out, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says it could take some time before things return to anything close to normal.<\/p>\n

In a typical summer, Edmonton receives around 213 to 214 millimetres of rain over June, July, and August combined. But according to Jennifer Kowal, an operational meteorologist with ECCC, some weather stations have already recorded more than 500 millimetres this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the one that has been recording the highest amounts, and that just has to do with exactly where these thunderstorms roll over, but Blatchford has reported over 500 millimetres so far this summer,\u201d Kowal said, adding most of the other stations are in the 250 to 350 range.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich is still way over what your summer total is, only halfway through the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, if you\u2019re on the north side and feel like you\u2019ve been dealt an especially rough hand this season, there\u2019s your answer.<\/p>\n

Kowal explained thunderstorms are highly localized, meaning rainfall totals can vary dramatically depending on exactly where the storms track.<\/p>\n

The previous summer rainfall record was set in 1953, when 417 millimetres of rain fell. Most of Edmonton\u2019s 10 wettest summers have recorded between 330 and 410 millimetres, Kowal said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have just exceeded all of our records by so much already this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kowal said this summer\u2019s unusually wet conditions have also helped fuel the frequent thunderstorms.<\/p>\n

We got another reminder of just how volatile those storms can be over the weekend, when thousands attending Post Malone\u2019s concert at Commonwealth Stadium were forced to shelter<\/a> before the show was ultimately cancelled because of severe weather. That storm led to downed trees and localised flooding, something we\u2019ve become all too familiar with this summer.<\/p>\n

Meteorologists use the acronym MIST to describe the four main ingredients needed for thunderstorms: moisture, instability, shear and trigger. This year, she said, moisture has been the standout.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause there\u2019s so much water on the ground, you just have more antecedent moisture than you normally would ever have.\u201d<\/p>\n

All that rain has essentially created a feedback loop: saturated ground adds more moisture to the atmosphere, which helps storms strengthen and produce even more rain.<\/p>\n

Kowal said August is typically warmer and drier than June and July, and forecasts still suggest the weather should begin trending back toward something more seasonal.<\/p>\n

However, before that happens, the ground needs some time to dry out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing that needs to happen first is there just needs to be some time for this water to disperse.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for whether that will happen anytime soon, a look at the forecast<\/a> shows we\u2019re not done with the rain yet. ECCC is calling for more showers this week, including a 60 per cent chance of rain on both Monday and Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

ECCC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We don\u2019t have to convince you it\u2019s been a rough summer weather-wise in Edmonton. In fact, lightning knocked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-830070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}