Winter doesn’t officially start until Dec. 21, but in Halifax, it feels like it’s already here.
That’s because, according to Environment Canada, Sunday was the coldest day of the season so far and the cold weather appears as though it is sticking around for now.
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This week, it’s expected to remain cool until Tuesday, when it will briefly warm up.
By the end of the week however, bone chilling temperatures are headed to the region.
“You’re going to join what the rest of the continent is seeing. Some very cold polar air, Alaskan air,” said David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada.
“It could be a dozen degrees colder than normal in Halifax,” he said. “At night, we may see temperatures, certainly in parts of New Brunswick, down to below -20.”
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Haligonians don’t mind the cold
Despite the cold weather this weekend, most Haligonians are taking it in stride.
“This is like the first little spell of it staying really cold,” Jennifer Hamm said. “I like it. It’s a blue sky. I don’t mind a crisp winter day with a blue sky.”
“You don’t have to shovel any of this so this is good,” Stuart Crasswell said.
“I’ve never been in Halifax before last winter and everyone said it was really mild last winter, so hopefully it won’t be that mild, hopefully there will be a lot of snow this time,” Julianna Karavayeva added.
Two winters, two extremes
Two years ago, there were historic amounts of snow in the Maritimes. Last winter, however, was almost the opposite. There was hardly any snow and it remained quite mild.
“Last year, it was almost as if winter was cancelled,” Phillips said.
“The winter before, it was almost too much winter. We think that this winter will be somewhere in between. Sort of the Goldilocks of winters: not too cold, but not too hot.”
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Phillips is predicting a classic, traditional winter for the Maritimes this year. He says it may be a little warmer than usual, but there will be snow.
“You’ll be doing more shovelling, plowing and pushing then you did last year and certainly far less then you did the year before, the winter of 2014-15,” Phillips said.”That was just downright miserable. It was cold and it went on for so long. It was one that you wouldn’t want to remember.”
Phillips says there has only been snow on the ground for one of the last four Christmases in Halifax. This year, there’s a good chance we will be seeing a white Christmas.
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