Despite a few snowy days and deep freeze temperature this fall, Environment Canada forecast for the next several months suggests Rocky View County residents may be able to enjoy some warmer temperatures this winter. However, meteorologists are also calling for some wet days that could keep residents from fully enjoying those warmer temperatures.
“(Environment Canada is predicting) milder than normal temperatures and wetter than normal for Alberta over the next couple of months,” said Environment Canada Warning Preparedness Meteorologist Dan Kulak.
“The forecast of El Nino have been weakening of late so that may not be as prevalent as we thought a couple of months ago,” he added.
El Nino’s typically result in above average temperatures of 2°C to 4°C and a dryer season in Alberta, according to the Environment Canada.
The warmer weather may be a welcome relief to many residents but the idea of a wetter winter might just bring flashbacks to the snowstorms the county was hit with in December 2013.
As reported in the Dec. 30, 2013 edition of Rocky View Weekly, according to Environment Canada from the beginning of November 2013 until Dec. 18, 2013, a total of 70 centimetres (cm) had accumulated in Airdrie and the surrounding areas.
That’s two-and-half times the normal accumulated amounts of 28 cm the region would normally see.
The county was also hit with major snowstorms on Dec. 8, 9 and 15, snowfall warnings were issued that called for 10 to 15 cm of snow on each day.
In the Nov. 17 edition of Rocky View Weekly in an article concerning the renewed Gas Tax Fund, Beiseker Mayor Ray Courtman said the repeated snow storms that hit the county last winter caused the Village’s snow removal budget to balloon to at least double the budget.
He said this year, the Village has a contingency plan and an updated snow removal policy, which council is scheduled to review at the next council meeting, but if the Village gets another big snowfall they may once again have to go over budget.
However, Kulak cautions residents needn’t get too worried just yet.
“The seasonal forecast is a good source of water cooler discussion, but whether you’d want to bet the farm on (the forecast) is another issue,” he said, adding meteorology and seasonal forecasting is a “young science” and not 100 per cent accurate.
In terms of the Polar Vortex, which dominated much of the weather news last year, Kulak said it’s a normal weather occurrence that the “media just grabbed on to” last year.
“In essence, typically in winter time there is a circulation of air not at the ground level but above the ground, that tends to reside over the Hudson Bay and Eastern Canada, what meteorologists refer to as Polar Vortex,” he said, adding the Polar Vortex has always existed and moves around each year.
“This is just winter weather. Don’t blame it on the Polar Vortex,” he said.
One thing Kulak said all Albertans should prepare for despite the forecast is general winter weather awareness.
“Keep in mind common sense when travelling and advice on how to stay safe,” he said.
“You can look out the window before you go out and the weather may look good. It may be good visibility as you head out, but it’s what’s in-between that gets you in trouble. You can’t see that out of the window.”
