Warmth Reigns Across Canada - In Winnipeg, Warmest January Since 1873

[hatrack]

WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Warm and winter are two unlikely companion words that Canadians are using to describe record-breaking temperatures this year.

Winnipeg, a Canadian city dubbed "Winterpeg" for its notoriously frigid winters, had its warmest January on record, Environment Canada said Wednesday. Normally Canada's coldest large city each winter, Winnipeg enjoyed an average -7.4 Celsius (18.7 F) in January, the balmiest since the month's temperatures were first recorded in 1873. This broke the 1944 record of -10.6 C (12.9 F), well above the city's normal monthly mean of -17.8 C (-0.04 F), Environment Canada said.

Monthly temperature records are usually broken by fractions of degrees, said Dale Marciski, an Environment Canada meteorologist in Winnipeg. "This time we're breaking it by over three degrees. That's showing that not only is it record-breaking but its record-breaking by a huge amount," Marciski said.

Communities in Canada's north, which often rely on temporary winter roads built on frozen lakes and rivers for bringing in supplies, have been isolated. Only an estimated 60 percent of Manitoba's winter roads have opened.

EDIT

http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=9796

[MnFats]

1. same here in MN.. warmest January in history!

or at least since they began keeping records 160 years ago.
usually we get siberian air masses after they barrel out of Canada. (Thanks, guys).
NO cold days, hardly any snow, most days the LOW is higher than the typical HIGH.
February starting out the same. Feels like april -- shirt sleeve weather.

but nothing is going on with climate change.
nothing to worry about there.

[Hissyspit]

2. We are so screwed.

I remember taking a trip with a friend to Montreal the summer of '95 to get away from the Southern U.S. heat wave.

It was hotter in Canada the whole week! And we didn't have air conditioning in the car. We went chasing after cold air to the Arctic and couldn't find it!

[Canuckistanian]

3. This is crazy

We're into our 4th major meltdown since Xmas. Normally, the temp. is around 0 Fahrenheit.

There's no ice fishing, no skating on the Rideau Canal (huge tourist draw) and skiers never know what the snow conditions will be from day to day.

Now, we're about to get a big winter storm today and the weather service DOESN'T KNOW how big it will be, whether it's rain or snow or how long it wil last.

Like I said, crazy.