WATCH ABOVE: Margeaux Morin’s long-range weather forecast.
EDMONTON – Something weird is going on with the jet stream.
Climate scientists say the fast, high-altitude river of air that normally moves from west to east over the middle of North America has become increasingly loopy in recent years and is now dropping as far south as Texas.
READ MORE: Research suggests climate change threatens Alberta wetlands
Environment Canada says as a result, normally frigid prairie cities are into their second week of a January thaw that’s seen overnight rain in Edmonton and shirt sleeves in Calgary.
READ MORE: Freezing rain warning for Edmonton area; snow to follow
Jim Byrne, a climatologist at the University of Lethbridge, says it’s consistent with a theory that suggests the wandering is caused by shrinking Arctic sea ice.