If it is going to be windy in Olds, it is most likely to be coming from the North-North-West or South-South-East. When the Chinook's are blowing in, then the South-West.

The graph here is showing the percentage wind direction from March 2005 to March 2008.

These graphs show the average day temperature by year. Data is taken from March 2005 to February 2008. You can see when during the month it is the warmest or coldest.
Tip: click on the graph image to enlarge it.

Graphs for February 2008

Wind Direction


Warmest part of the day in February

Shows sun heat build up and cool down for February.

Wind Speed Average

Shows average wind speed throughout the day. Calmest time of the day was between 7:30am and 8:30am.
Most common time for high wind speeds where:
- 12:00am to 8:00am
- 10:30am to 5:30pm

January was a cold month, but we had strong Chinook winds battling against the strong icy cold south-east winds. Toss in some wind from the north to make January the coldest on recorded for my weather station.

So did global warming take place in 2007?

I used Environment Canada's historic data for Olds, Alberta from 1971-2000 and compared it to the temperatures recorded from my weather station.

Compared where:
- Daytime maximum temperature
- Daytime minimum temperature
- Daytime average temperature

So the results are:
- 7 months where warmer overall
- 4 months where colder overall
- 1 month average and min where colder, but daytime max where higher.


The answer, YES - we had a warmer year compared to the averages on file.