Cold to start, then warmer than normal

By Mo Cranker on November 29, 2018.

Daryien Caplette pulls off a 360 Wednesday afternoon at the Kinsmen Skate Plaza while enjoying the warm weather. Forecasters are saying southern Alberta will be getting a warmer winter than last year, but it will still experience periods of cold and snow.--NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker

After what seemed like a never-ending winter last year, Medicine Hatters can expect a slightly warmer than average winter this year, according to The Weather Network.

“With regards to temperatures we’re expecting that region to trend a bit above normal, or a little bit warmer than normal,” said meteorologist Brad Rousseau. “With that being said, I think it’s important to note that things are going to be a bit colder there to start December — there’s going to be a cold spell to kick off the month.

“As December moves along you can expect a bit of a milder trend to set in.”

While he is predicting weather to be a bit warmer this winter, Rousseau says southeastern Alberta won’t be able to completely avoid arctic air passing through.

“It’s looking like there will be a bit more back-and-forth between the arctic air and pacific air at times and we think that mild pacific air is going to win out a little more than it usually would,” he said. “We’re heading into an El Nino pattern which will also add to the warmer pattern, as well as some warmer water in the north pacific — all of these things should add up to warmer weather for the region.”

As for precipitation, Rousseau says there may be a bit less snow this season.

“It’s looking like it’ll be dryer,” he said. “It’s winter, there will be snow, but people can expect it to just be a littler dryer than it usually is.”

Rousseau says February 2018 stood out as an extremely cold month while he was looking over the region and says other parts of Canada can expect more of that this year.

“Other parts of the country, especially the East, are going to have some really cold times this winter,” he said. “The country is quite divided this year when it comes to weather.

“The West looks to be getting the mild winter, where Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes are looking at a pretty cold winter overall.

“That’s not to say southern Alberta won’t be susceptible to some cold times — things just look to be a little warmer than usual.”

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