Regina – It’s officially spring, but this year no one is expecting much of a change.
The coldest months December, January and February make up the meteorological winter season. The average temperature this year was -7.6 degrees. That’s about five degrees above the climate normal, making this winter season the second warmest in history, roughly two degrees behind the record set eighty-five years ago.
The coldest temperature Regina dipped to this winter was -35 degrees on January 16th. In fact, that was the only time we saw the mercury below -30 degrees. In a normal year we’d have an average of 11 days in the -30s. Unsurprisingly, these abnormalities didn’t seem to bother Reginans.
Not only was it a warm winter, but also a very dry one. Regina had merely 19 centimetres of snow fall from December to February. That amount is 73 per cent less than normal. Businesses that depend on the snowfall, took a hit.
“We’re down approximately 50 per cent on snowmobile sales and of course the jackets and helmets. Also the gloves and belts and oil that the snowmobiles use we’re not selling any of that either,” said Darcey Shaw, owner of outdoor sports store Alsport Sales.
Despite the lack of snow, those with a green thumb are itching to get planting.