A mild fall and far less severe winter than last year could be on course for Grande Prairie according to The Weather Network’s 2019 Fall Forecast.
“Quite different than we saw last year, we’ve already seen that where September was so much colder than last year. At this point, temperatures are tipping to the mild side of normal,” says Meteorologist Doug Gillham.
“Fall always has wild back and forth swings in temperatures.”
However, after long periods with extreme cold in Grande Prairie in the winter of 2018, Gillham understands that for many in the region, the winter forecast is one that can keep people up at night. The good news is, it may not be nearly as bad as feared.
“We will get periods of classic winter weather…[we] think the final numbers will be on the positive side of normal. A normal winter would always include severe cold but nothing like you saw last year.”
As far as overall snowfall goes, Gillham says they don’t have any concrete forecasts, but long-term it’s looking fairly average.
“We don’t have a strong signal on precipitation at this point, we will fine-tune that as we get closer, but at this point, it looks like near-normal precipitation for winter as well.”