The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
With just a few weeks to go until the official start of spring, many Canadians may be hoping for warmer temperatures and fewer snowfalls while others may be hoping for an extended ski and snowmobile season. Which will it be? In their 2005 Spring Outlook available on www.theweathernetwork.com, meteorologists at The Weather Network say much of Central and Eastern Canada will start spring off on a cool note with a few more bursts of wintry precipitation still to come for some areas. As for Western Canada and the Prairies, spring will start off on a mild note for most of British Columbia and wet weather will make a return to the southern half of the province. The Prairies meantime can expect cool temperatures to kick off spring although snowfall amounts should remain low in most southern areas. Some of the season's expected highs and lows include: - The ridging along the West Coast will start to collapse in the first two weeks of March, bringing moisture back to Southern BC. Temperatures should remain mild for much of the central and northern half of the province. - After some mild days in February, cooler temperatures will return to the Prairies in early March as the ridge flattens. Precipitation amounts should remain low in most southern areas, while northern areas will see more activity for the first part of March. - Much of Ontario and Quebec will remain cool for the start of spring with a large upper trough remaining in place from James Bay across eastern Lake Ontario. Southern Ontario can expect some more wintry precipitation in early March as systems pass just to the south of the region. - For the Maritimes, temperatures will slowly climb back to normal by late March and remain seasonal into April. Storms moving through the region from the west should diminish in strength as spring progresses, but the systems coming out of the Southern U.S. will tend to pack a bigger punch as they carry moisture out of the Gulf of Mexico. - The East Coast will be stuck in the middle of most systems moving through in the first half of March due to the upper trough being centered just to the west of the region and a branch of the southern jet stream helping to direct Southern U.S. systems towards Atlantic Canada. Saskatchewan For Saskatchewan the temperature will be near normal across the province. For precipitation, it will be near normal across the southern half of the province, but wetter than normal across the north. Manitoba For Manitoba the temperature will be near normal across most of province except near Hudson Bay where it should be slightly colder than normal. For precipitation, it will be near normal for the southern part of the province, but wetter than normal across the north.
