OTTAWA — Environment Canada says most of the country will see normal or above-normal temperatures this winter, but the later part of the season could be very different from the start.
The federal agency released its winter forecast today, with meteorologists noting that the fall was extremely mild, particularly in Western Canada, until the last couple of weeks.
The agency is predicting above-normal winter temperatures for northern Ontario and Quebec, Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Temperatures and precipitation levels could be above-average in the rest of the country, especially in December -- but that may change by the end of the meteorological winter at the end of February.
Environment Canada says climate change is causing Canada's temperatures to rise at a rate that's about twice the global rate of warming, and the effect is even more pronounced in the Arctic.
The government is launching a pilot project in 2025 to indicate whether human-caused climate change had an impact on the likelihood of severe weather events.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2024.
Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press
