If you thought December 2023 in Winnipeg was warmer than usual, you’re right. Last month, in fact, was the third-warmest December in the city’s history, surpassed only by 1997 and 1877.
That’s according to Scott Kehler of Weatherlogics, who told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg that the all-time record, way back in the 19th century, was only a couple of degrees warmer than what the city experienced in 2023.
“Interestingly, 1877 and 1997 were two of only four brown Christmases in Winnipeg,” Kehler said. “We were close to a brown one last year but just didn’t quite hit it.
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“If you look around southern Manitoba, (some) places around Portage la Prairie had a brown Christmas, and some other areas as you follow down the Manitoba escarpment did as well … so really throughout southern Manitoba, there’s not a lot of snow, and of course the Winnipeg area is just enough to cover the ground.”
Kehler said the above-average temperatures and below-average snowpack have continued into January, but like all good things — depending on your weather preferences, of course — they will inevitably come to an end.
“I was looking at the long-range forecast again this morning, and over the next week or so it looks like we’re going to trend toward normal,” he said.
“For the longer term, I would say sometime next week, probably mid- to latter part of next week, there are signs of maybe the first deep freeze starting to set in. There’s still a bit of uncertainty about how cold it’s going to get and how long it’s going to last.
“When we do start to get into this colder pattern, the chances for snow will likely start to increase. Normally in wintertime, it’s a bit counter-intuitive, but it’s the colder periods when we get more snow usually, especially the transitions from warm to cold or vice-versa.”
While the lack of snow so far has put the kibosh on popular winter activities like sledding or skiing, Kehler said it’s also not a lot of fun for those in the forecasting business.
“Meteorologists prefer to forecast active weather because that’s kind of intellectually interesting. When you’re just forecasting a cloudy day or a sunny day, it does get a little bit boring.
“I do enjoy the more active periods of weather, but on the other hand I don’t like it to be active wall-to-wall throughout the winter.”