Tuesday marked the release of The Weather Network's (TWN) winter outlook for the months of December, January and February.
The network's prediction forecasts that the upcoming season will be "more in line with a typical Canadian winter," consisting of alternating periods of fair and stormy conditions throughout winter.
“We are likely to get more of a winter this year than what Mother Nature delivered last year, but it won’t necessarily be brutal either,” stated Chris Scott, director of meteorology with TWN. “Last winter’s tame conditions were unusual; whereas this year it’s unlikely your snowbrushes and shovels will have a chance to collect dust.”
The Times-Herald spoke to TWN meteorologist Dayna Vettese on Tuesday about what’s in store specifically for southern Saskatchewan.
“We’re seeing a close to normal trend, which is going to continue through the upcoming months,” Vettese said. “Think fairly normal, with chilly outbreaks from the arctic cold.”
According to Vattese, last winter’s unseasonably warm conditions aren’t going to be an indication of what’s in store for this winter.
“Last year we saw an average day time temperature of 0 C, the average usually for southern Saskatchewan is -6 C,” Vettese said. “The reason is, the open flow from the arctic front was trapped further north last year, causing the warmer temperatures."
She added the windstream is back on course for this winter, which will lead to normally expected weather in the upcoming months.
Precipitation across western Canada is expected to be near normal from British Columbia through to the border between Manitoba and Ontario. Western Nunavut is anticipated to be the only exception where conditions are on tap to be drier than normal.
Much of the northern Prairies and Northwest Territories are likely to experience below normal temperatures; all other regions are forecast to have near normal temperatures.
For more on this story pick up the next issue of the Times-Herald.
