After grinning and bearing October snowfall, many Albertans have found reason to part ways with their parkas again.
According to Environment Canada, temperatures in the Edmonton-area should be hovering around two degrees Celsius. Instead, double-digit temperatures ranging into the twenties have popped up throughout much of the province.
READ MORE: Edmonton to see unusually warm weather to start November
Wayne Moen chose to spend Friday basking in the sunshine at Lewis Estates Golf Course. He has lived in Edmonton for about 64 years and recalls at least one other time the mild temperatures lasted into November.
“I seem to recall it almost to my birthday – Nov. 18 – it was nice but pretty rare,” Moen said.
“We saw people coming out here in shorts. Edmontonians, I’m sure,” he added with a hearty laugh.
Since the turn in the weather, the course has received a steady flow of calls from individuals looking to book a tee time. In fact, the course is taking bookings straight into the next week.
“Thousands of calls over the last five days,” the course’s general manager, Jerry Linquist, said. “You know, people in Edmonton – they love golf. So this weather helps.”
Linquist said they had to close for 16 days in the middle of October. The longest he remembers the course ever being open was until Nov. 24. That was around a decade ago.
An early blast of winter led to a number of collisions and highway advisories. It also left drivers scrambling to have their vehicles outfitted with winter tires.
WATCH: Alberta’s capital slammed with snow
“We’re getting warm air off the Pacific and it’s pushing the colder air that’s in the Arctic up, into the Arctic. And even the Arctic isn’t that cold for this time of year,” Dan Kulak, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said.
And while many Albertans are grateful for the reprieve from the cold, Kulak said those still yearning for snow can take solace in this: “Rest assured it’ll probably happen sometime. We never seem to escape winter in this part of the world – eventually.”
Over the last two days, Canada’s hot spots have been located in Alberta. Kulak said Thursday’s hot spot was Acadia Valley. On Friday it was another area near Medicine Hat.
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