Is Manitoba getting windier lately?
If you’ve been asking yourself that question, you’re not alone. A local climatologist says the entire prairie region seems to have experienced above-average wind for a few months now.
“People are talking about it, that’s for sure. People have noticed it,” said Dr. Danny Blair, co-director of the Prairie Climate Centre.
Blair told 680 CJOB the wind is caused by a pressure gradient — a difference in pressure at the surface in one area compared to another.
“We’ve had more high-pressure and low-pressure situations than normal, and that begs the question: why?” Blair said.
“As a climatologist, I always tell my students, ‘if you want to know what causes the highs and lows, and therfore the winds at the surface, you have to look up.
“Our wind systems, our pressure systems, are caused by what’s in the upper atmosphere — the jet stream, the all-important jet stream.”
The data from the upper atmosphere, he said, shows that over the last 90 days or so, it’s been cooler than normal to Manitoba’s north and warmer than normal to the south of the province, which causes a jet stream.
“It seems the energy in the upper atmosphere is stronger than normal, and that translates to stronger than normal winds at the surface,” he said.
“Eventually things will even out, the temperature patterns will go back to normal — perhaps. But there is no normal anymore because of climate change, of course.”
Wind conditions were cited by Manitoba RCMP as a potential contributor to a weekend tragedy on Lake Winnipeg near Belair, Man., which resulted in the death of a 73-year-old after a boat capsized.
Three men were rescued and taken to hospital, while another — 42-year-old Nour Ali — remained missing as of Tuesday afternoon.
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