Unseasonably Warm Temperatures Expected to Continue

Friday, 4 December 2015 05:49

As warmer than normal temperatures continue in Oxford County, Environment Canada tells us a powerful El Niño could have something to do with it.

If you're enjoying this warm stretch of weather, you might be happy to know it could continue.

Oxford County has already seen some snow, but it might be a while before more of the white stuff returns. Warning Preparedness Meteorologist with Environment Canada, Geoff Coulson, says we might not see any real accumulation for some time. "The forecast looks more like the month of October than the month of December. We are looking at temperatures to be well above normal for the next number of days, and combining with these warmer than normal temperatures we are also expecting to see a fair amount of sunshine. There could be a storm right before Christmas itself that may give some snowfall that will hang around for Christmas Day."

Those warm temperatures might hold steady all the way into mid-January. Coulson says some of this might be due to a very powerful El Niño."With this particular El Niño being one of the strongest they've seen since they began recording this phenomenon back in 1950, it could indeed be having an influence on our weather in Southwestern Ontario. We may see some changes in the winter forecast as we move into January and February - for the month of December itself in a number of the long range forecasts models predict milder than normal conditions will continue."

Although it may be warm now, the odds of a totally snowless winter are very slim. "Given the influence of lake effect snow in parts of Southwestern Ontario it would be pretty difficult to go through a whole winter without having some snowfall," Coulson says. "I don't think we are going to be able to avoid snow this winter, but it does look like overall the trend at least through December and the first part of January is for conditions to be somewhat warmer than normal; rain or freezing rain as opposed to snowfall."