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Expecting real cold? Not this winter
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...y/National/home
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MIKE OLIVEIRA
Canadian Press
TORONTO — Environment Canada is predicting a milder than normal winter in the months ahead, but considering the weather patterns of the last 10 years, it should come as no surprise.
Of the last 37 seasons, only two were colder than normal, and it's been a decade since a winter season wasn't unseasonably mild compared to historical averages, said Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips.
"Winter is different now than it used to be," Mr. Phillips said in an interview. "The dice have clearly been loaded to give us warmer-than-normal seasons, including the winter. The climate has changed."
Only a few areas in the far north and parts of Labrador, where few people live, are expected to be colder than normal this year. Parts of Quebec and Atlantic Canada can expect normal temperatures, while the rest of the country is expected to be relatively mild, he said.
One important factor that will affect whether the forecast comes true is the El Nino effect: changes in the weather caused by a very large, warm pool of water sitting in the Pacific Ocean. It causes more Pacific air to flow across the country rather than Arctic air, and has "a profound effect on our winters here," Mr. Phillips said.
It's been a while since Canadians were exposed to a true Canadian winter and most have likely forgotten what real cold is, he said.
"We used to be able to handle tough weather in this country, and I wonder if we're getting soft," he said of the annual complaints about the cold. "If we ever had an average winter -- not a brutal winter but just an average winter -- it would be absolutely brutal on us. If we faced something like back in the fifties, sixties and seventies, we would find it probably very punishing."
Most children and teenagers have never faced a winter like their parents faced he said, giving credence to all those stories of walking to school -- both ways -- in deep snow and blinding winds.
The only seasons that were colder than normal in the last decade were the spring of 2002 and the spring of 2004, Mr. Phillips said. And there's no clearer evidence of Canada's warming trend than the weather over the last four seasons, he added.
"Last year in Canada we had the warmest winter on record, almost four degrees warmer than normal," he said. "Last fall was the second-warmest fall on record, we had the warmest spring and the second-warmest summer on record. If anything, this last 12 months has probably been the warmest 12 months we've seen in the last 60 years in Canada."
He wouldn't point the finger at specific causes for the climate change but said the figures are undeniable. |
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| quote: | Originally posted by chinamon
not true. i say "ugh"
but i am a tranny. |
| quote: | Originally posted by kotsy
lol colour me retarded |
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