Not only is it not going to be a white Christmas for the southern and most populated parts of Ontario Quebec and the eastern maritime provinces, it’s almost T-shirt weather.
Several golf courses in this part of the country have remained open, and outdoor skating, a normal feature at this time of year, is completely out of the question as no lakes or ponds have come close to freezing. A golf club in Burlington Ontario, announced it will be open today for the first time ever, and
Several temperature records for warmth have fallen in these regions over the past few days as a warm front moved slowly through this half of Canada.
In the national capital Ottawa, Ontario,- one of the world’s coldest capitals- the temperature today will reach an incredible 18 degrees Celsius.
Toronto, Ontario- the most populous city in Canada, today will have a temperature of 17 degrees Celsius, Montreal, Quebec 16, Moncton New Brunswick 12, Charlottetown PEI 9, Halifax N.S 12, while out in the Atlantic, St John’s Newfoundland will have a high of -3 today, but as the warmth moves in, see 7 degrees on the 25th.
Besides the lack of outdoor skating, even in the hills there has been so little snow, most ski hills are closed throughout eastern Canada.
It’s not the same in the west however where temperatures are at more normal winter levels, well below zero.
As for the abnormal warmth in the eastern half of Canada, meterologists blame it on a strong “El Nino” effect in the Pacific Ocean,
But according to University of British Columbia climate scientist Simon Donner, that’s not the full story.
Quoted in a CBC story by Trinh Theresa Do, he says, “The reason that it’s breaking temperature records is because you have the El Nino event on top of the fact that the planet is slowly warming. El Nino would mean a mild winter in a lot of Canada. El Nino plus global warming means a record-breaking warm winter.”
Meanwhile, after a fairly dismal year last year with a lack of snow in winter, and precipitation in summer, ski hills in British Columbia and Alberta in the Rockies have had lots of snow so far and are in full ski season mode. The more typical winter temperatures will begin to return to eastern Canada over the next few days.
Globally, 2014 was the warmest year on record, while with a few days left in the year, 2015 is clearly already warmer.
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