Photo by Bob Schneider

By Charles Lefebvre

Winter forecast

Environment Canada predicting mild winter for Medicine Hat

Dec 3, 2019 | 12:19 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Environment Canada is predicting an overall milder winter for the prairies this year, including Medicine Hat.

The annual forecast was released on Monday, and Medicine Hat is in line with the agency’s current prediction about the weather on the prairies.

“What we do have available does suggest the possibility of a milder winter than what would normally be occurring,” said meteorologist Dan Kulak, over the phone from Edmonton. “As well as with the precipitation, that’s really an uncertainty. Certainly on the mild side is what we’re thinking, but we really don’t have a good handle on how much snow there is going to be.”

Kulak says there is currently no indication of an El Nino system, which typically means milder winters, or a La Nina system, which means colder and stormy winters.

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“When we don’t have either one happening, it’s like, what are you going to get in the middle,” he said.

However, Kulak warns polar vortexes are still expected to occur, and reminds Canadians that weather can change quickly.

“Certainly, when we say a milder forecast for the winter as a whole, it does not mean that it’s going to be warmer than normal every day, you’re going to have some cold snaps, you’re going to have some wind, and you’re probably going to have some snow,” he said.