Almanac says severe winter? Evidence points other way: Environment Canada
LETHBRIDGE – Environment Canada’s senior climatologist is throwing cold water – actually, warm water, in this case – on warnings of a severe winter from the Farmers’ Almanac.
The prognosis for the southern Prairies from the Canadian publication got plenty of media attention in late August, with predictions of stormy, wet weather in the fall, heavy snow late in the year, and temperatures in the -40s in February.
But David Phillips says, on the contrary, there’s a very good chance of a warmer than normal winter for southern Alberta, and he can say that with some confidence because of an El Niño pattern in the Pacific Ocean.
“It’s a weak guy, it’s maybe neutral to growing in intensity. And we think that that pattern is going to continue. There’s about a 75 per cent chance that El Niño is not going to disappear. It’s going to grow in strength as we get closer to the end of the year and into next year,” Phillips told LethbridgeNewsNOW in an interview.