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.
Winter. 'Tis the season for skiing, skating, snowmobiling, sledding, sipping hot chocolate... shoveling, scraping, snow blowing, shivering, sitting in traffic... No matter how you look at it, winter has something for everyone. Weather-wise, what can Canadians expect for the 2004-2005 winter season? "A pretty average winter for the most part, but a few areas of the country will deviate from normal, experiencing warmer, colder, drier or wetter than normal conditions," says Meteorologist Lloyd Butler at The Weather Network. "The presence of a very weak El Nino in the equatorial Pacific should not have much of an impact on Canada's weather, so most areas should prepare for the usual doses of winter weather including snow, freezing rain and cold temperatures throughout the season." Although the colder days won't go unnoticed, warmer than normal temperatures are expected on average for central and northern British Columbia, southern and central Alberta, most of southern Saskatchewan, eastern Newfoundland and Labrador and southern Yukon. Meantime, an extra blanket on the bed might be necessary if you live in eastern or northeastern Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes and Nunavut, where colder than normal temperatures will dominate. "We're expecting much of British Columbia and Alberta as well as southern Saskatchewan and southern Yukon to experience a warmer than normal winter because the jet stream will tend to be a bit farther north than usual as it comes ashore on the West Coast. This will make way for mild Pacific air to migrate northward into the provinces," says Butler. "Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador should also be warmer than normal as storms carrying mild Gulf air track through the area from the southeastern United States." Many areas of Ontario and Quebec meantime are expected to be colder than normal this winter as cold Arctic air sinks down across Hudson Bay and into the provinces. "This is nothing unusual for Ontario and Quebec. In the wintertime, cold Arctic air normally becomes bottled up over Hudson Bay and Ontario and Quebec eventually feel its effects," says Butler. The Maritime provinces are also facing a colder than normal winter. "The waters off the East Coast are still a bit warmer than normal, which is helping to slow down storms and pull in more cold air as the storms track closer to the coast. This should trap more and more cold air over the provinces as the winter progresses," says Butler. While they will still see their share of winter storms over the season, drier than normal conditions are expected on average for southeastern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, southwestern Manitoba and most of Ontario, Quebec and Nunavut. Meantime, to the delight of skiers and ski resort operators, wetter than normal conditions are expected on average for northern British Columbia, northern Alberta, northwestern Saskatchewan, the eastern Maritimes, Newfoundland, eastern Labrador, southeastern Yukon and the southern Northwest Territories. "We're expecting much of the southern Prairies to be drier than normal this winter because most of the storms moving through should be weak and moving quickly, dropping less moisture than normal," says Butler. "The same applies to most of Ontario and Quebec where the majority of the storms - although not all - should be weak in nature or they will get split as they move through and head towards northern Quebec and Labrador or the Maritimes and Newfoundland." Meantime, the usual snowbelt areas around Lake Huron and Georgian Bay can expect snowsquall activity to continue for a little while longer as the lakes are slow to freeze over. "With the jet stream being a bit farther north than usual along the West Coast, northern British Columbia and much of the northern Prairies will be in the path of the majority of the storms moving through, which is why we're expecting wetter than normal conditions for these areas," says Butler. "Watch for wetter than normal conditions in the eastern Maritimes and Newfoundland and Labrador as well with a couple of very active storms expected to sweep through before the New Year.
