Genie, a thirteen year old American Black bear looks up from a nap at the Zoo Eco Museum west of Montreal, Sunday, March 3, 2023. She came out of hibernation on March 1. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
MONTREAL – Environment Canada says the 2023-2024 winter season in Montreal was the second-warmest since record-keeping began in 1871.
Meteorologist Gregory Yang says the mean temperatures for December, January and February were each approximately four degrees warmer than usual.
He said the city experienced a record-breaking high of 14.9 degrees on Feb. 27, and the overall winter temperature was surpassed only by the 2001-2002 season.
The warm weather even prompted the resident black bear at a zoo west of Montreal to emerge from hibernation a little earlier than usual.
Ecomuseum spokeswoman Sarah Prince-Robin said Genie the bear made her first official outing of the year on Friday, just in time for the start of many students’ spring break.
Prince-Robin says there are a number of factors that impact how early a bear wakes up, but temperature and barometric pressure are two of the ways they can tell spring is around the corner.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2024.
