Warm and dry conditions persist in Medicine Hat

By Lisa Parent

Chance of a white Christmas dwindling, as warm and dry weather persists in Medicine Hat

Dec 1, 2023 | 5:19 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Medicine Hat has had a brown and dry autumn and the chances of a white Christmas may be dwindling.

In November, Medicine Hat logged 1.6 millimeters of precipitation, and a mean temperature of about 8.5 degrees. This upcoming week, Enivonrment Canada is predicting all sun and daytime temperatures above zero.

The City of Medicine Hat told CHAT News that these temperatures are putting a halt to some winter activities.

“This year, with the predicted forecast, it’s probably going to be the new year before we get the ice structures to a condition where people can use them,” says William Percy, the Superintendent of Parks. “Unless it gets really cold really suddenly, or if we do get a big dump of snow, then hopefully we’ll be able to get to toboggan hill up and running.”

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Percy says to start flooding skating rinks, they’ll need consistent temperatures from minus five to minus 10 degrees celsius.

“We are now kind of at the mercy of the weather. As soon as it gets cold enough, we’ll get things fired up as soon as we can so that people could enjoy the outdoor amenities,” Percy explains.

According to Alysa Pederson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, those high temperatures won’t be budging anytime soon.

“This is just a situation where we’ve just had a stagnant, what we call an upper ridge pattern,” says Pederson. “So basically a lot of warm air coming up from the States and dryness pushing all of the big weather systems into the Northwest Territories.”

Starting this month and into January and February, El Niño will also start to take effect. That means months of more warm temperatures ahead.

“What that means is the Pacific Ocean temperatures just off the west coast of of Chile, so northern South America are warmer than normal because the atmospheric winds in the area aren’t as strong as they usually are,” explains Pederson. “Therefore, the surface temperature of the water is able to be a little bit warmer. What that does is it changes how the jet stream flows across parts of North America.”

The window for winter activities in Medicine Hat usually lasts from around December to March, according to Percy from Parks.

Over in Cypress County, The Hidden Valley Ski Resort is selling ski passes, but according to their Facebook page they are “working on the finer details,” as to when the resort will actually open.

So for now toboggans, skates and ski equipment will have to stay in the closet.