It may come as a shock to many Moose Javians out there, but, according to Environment Canada’s Senior Climatologist David Phillips, January was milder than normal.
Phillips said the average temp for January was -13 C, while the normal is usually around -14.9 C, an almost 2 degree difference.
“The problem is that when you look at the month it has been (so unpredictable). You had some melting temperatures and then deep freezes, and then melting temperatures and more deep freezes. I mean you were just wearing out your body change of clothes. One day you were wearing parkas and balaclavas and the next windbreakers. It really has been a year were (Moose Jaw) has had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them.”
As for the over-all temperatures, Phillips said he thinks the reason many people would have thought January was colder than normal is because we had such a cold start to the winter and more snow than usual.
As of Thursday Moose Jaw had approximately 20 cm of snow on the ground, however, add in the rest of the winter snowfall and Moose Jaw has seen about 111 cm of the white stuff hit the ground.
