There could be some relief for the Grande Prairie area this winter. The Weather Network’s winter outlook is calling for warmer than normal temperatures and below normal precipitation for the Peace country.
Meteorologist Brad Rousseau says the cool fall the city saw isn’t a sign of what’s to come. He explains that the area can still expect blasts of Arctic air, but the winter will mostly be affected by what’s coming from the Pacific Ocean.
“We’re still expecting a cold shot to come in kind of to kick off December as you go through the early to mid-part, but after that we expect those temperatures to start trending above seasonal and that’s the idea for the winter.”
Meteorologists are expecting an El Niño to develop, which typically means a milder winter across the country. As for precipitation, the region is expected to see rain and snowfall that’s near normal or just below normal for the area.
“Overall not overly wet or snowy and a little bit milder, so it should be a relatively quiet winter for you guys.”
That’s expected to be the case for the western part of the country and northwestern Ontario, while the rest of Canada looks to be in for a long, cold winter.