Ag Weather Forum

W. Canada to See Temperature Fluctuations

Doug Webster
By  Doug Webster , DTN Senior Ag Meteorologist

Cold air has been in place across the Prairies for nearly a week after a few weeks of unseasonable warmth covered the region during mid and late January. Dry weather for most of January was followed by an upswing in snow as January ended and February began.

A stubborn upper air weather pattern across North America shows no signs of changing soon. A trough across eastern North America is supplying most of central and eastern Canada as well as the northeastern U.S. with arctic cold. Some of this cold has settled southwestward into the Prairies during the past several days.

A very mild pattern covers the western half of the U.S. and some of this mild weather continues for British Columbia and is probably going to make some inroads into southern Alberta and southernmost Saskatchewan during the next several days. This pattern will likely bring on a nearly impossible temperature forecast for some areas of the western Prairies. Some areas may see temperatures jump to very mild levels then plummet a few hours later as the Chinook winds weaken.

Northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba should remain locked into the cold for the next several days but the bitter cold may ease even through these areas. The temperature fluctuations expected across the west are not at all unusual and are seen nearly each winter, especially as winter trends toward spring.

Spring is not in the cards soon though as the model forecasts indicate some intensification of the upper air patterns across North America during the next 2 weeks featuring episodes of bitter cold for the eastern half of Canada and much milder readings for far western areas.

As you might guess the Prairies will be in the air mass war zone with temperatures probably cold, maybe quite cold for Manitoba while western areas may see periods of very mild temperatures intertwined with a few very cold days as well.

A better chance of some snow is seen with this pattern and the wavering frontal zone across western Canada during the next couple of weeks. Snow cover is most likely to increase for most areas as we see several disturbances move along the wavering arctic boundary and we can look forward to some upslope snow along the front range of the Rockies as well.

Doug Webster can be reached at doug.webster@dtn.com

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