It may feel like winter came early this year but the first snowfall actually came later than average. Over the weekend St. Albert was blanketed with snow and coupled with freezing temperatures – the first big taste of winter weather.
It may feel like winter came early this year but the first snowfall actually came later than average.
Over the weekend St. Albert was blanketed with snow and coupled with freezing temperatures – the first big taste of winter weather.
“Winter is coming,” Dan Kulak, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said. “We have to accept that.”
According to Kulak, snow in October is not unusual and often times the first snowfall will happen in September.
On average, September will see one centimetre of snow and October will receive 12 centimetres. There is no official record of the amount of snow received over the weekend but Kulak says it was likely a little bit more than St. Albert would usually receive for a first snowfall.
On top of a big snowfall, temperatures have been cooler than average, making it feel like winter has arrived.
“It has been very much below normal for the last few days here,” Kulak said.
The normal high for this time of year is around 12C but this weekend's highs hovered around zero.
Temperatures may also feel surprisingly chilly because September was a bit warmer than usual, especially late in the month. The end of the month had some highs of 25 and 26 C, which were much warmer than the typical weather for that time of year.
The rest of the week will continue to be chilly, but temperatures will warm back up to the seasonal average of ten degrees next Monday.
When winter does officially arrive, it should be slightly more mild than the average year but that does not mean that there isn't going to be freezing temperatures and more snow. Though the weather could still be unpredictable.
“We do not have a strong driving force this winter,” Kulak said. “There is no La Niña or El Niño so the forecasts are a little bit more susceptible to being wrong.”
Over the next few weeks there is no long-term forecast available for the region and much of Canada because there is not enough of a confidence in the weather patterns. The computer models cannot predict temperature because there is nothing driving the forecast across much of Canada.
“It's a mystery,” Kulak said. “You will have to wait and see.”
