An Environment Canada meteorologist says the combined effect of an El Niño and general climate change for the wild mood swings by the weather this winter.
Geoff Coulson, a warning preparedness meteorologist with the agency, says El Niño is responsible for the above-zero temperatures. Despite blasts of Arctic air regularly cooling it off, the average is higher than normal.
And there’s a big storm coming. Coulson says the above-zero temperatures will drop.
“Precipitation perhaps beginning as snow mixed with rain or rain changing over to freezing rain and eventually snow by Wednesday morning, snows for much of the day on Wednesday, could be notable accumulations, anywhere between ten to 20 centimetres,” he prognosticates.
It’s expected to remain cold on Thursday, then back up over zero through the weekend.
With March arriving on Friday, bringing us closer to spring, Coulson says there will likely be fewer bitterly cold days between mild stretches.
“Now what that could still mean is a stretch of milder days as we’ve been experiencing and then still a few days here and there, when we get a reminder that we can still get Arctic air in Northeastern Ontario,” he notes. “But this overall trend we’ve seen for much of the winter looks like it will continue as we go through the month of March as well.”