It’s looking like a cold and snowy winter ahead for the Grande Prairie region, according to Environment Canada. Meteorologist Alyssa Peterson says that we should enjoy any mild weather while we still can.
“The next couple of weeks are going to be pretty nasty. We have some snow coming through for Tuesday into Wednesday, and finishing on Thursday, it looks to be about 10 to possibly up to 25 centimeters of snow,” she says.
Peterson says that temperatures will drop significantly next week, as we head into a deep freeze.
“That’s kind of what things will look like for the rest of the winter months,” she explains. “We’re in a La Niña pattern for this winter, which generally gives more snow in British Columbia and colder temperatures for the Prairies in the lee of the Rocky Mountains.”
Peterson says that even though we’ve seen a good amount of snowfall in November and December, more is on the way.
“Due to the La Niña weather pattern, areas to the west typically get a little heavier snow than we do in the Eastern Prairies. It is then followed by the cold and we’re seeing a little more snow than normal in recent weeks and we expect that trend to continue,” she adds.
The record annual snowfall for Grande Prairie was set in 2013, with 286.6 centimeters.