Wild Winter Ahead

Winter has officially arrived but it has been lurking for several weeks in Manitoba.  This year the official start of winter is 5:38PM, Tuesday December 21.  Environment Canada Senior Climatologist Dave Phillips says it has been an early start to winter and could be a wild one.  Temperatures have dipped to -30's at times in Southern Manitoba and there has been more snow that normal.

Phillips explains the winter forecast calls for more wild swings and unsettled weather.  As a result it may not be a long brutal winter, rather expect some breaks from the cold and snow.  Temperatures will average normal to below normal.

Precipitation is a little tougher to predict but he reports above normal snowfall is in the forecast.  This causes concern for spring flooding, especially with the ground already saturated.  He notes there was quite a bit of snow in November that stuck around and now with more this month it looks like a lot.

He believes the our December temperatures and precipitation is pretty much what we can expect for the next few months.  There is also an influence from La Niña which took hold in July which does encourage more winter like conditions on the prairies. 

Meanwhile the Old Farmer's Almanac agrees with his predictions.  It says our coldest weather will be in mid-January and mid- to late February and the heaviest snowfalls will occur in late December and late February.