La Nina is expected to bring cold air and more frequent storms to the western half of Canada, the AccuWeather 2022 Canadian winter forecast said. While those in eastern Canada may experience a more mild winter.
This is the third year in a row that La Nina is present. La Nina causes sea surface temperatures in the open waters of the equatorial Pacific Ocean dip to below-average levels, the report said. In an update from mid-October, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the La Nina phase was “still in charge” in the Pacific Ocean and there’s a “75 per cent chance La Nina will be present this winter.”
An amplified polar jet stream will push in cold air and more frequent storms to the western half of Canada. Unlike last year, when the polar vortex fuelled extreme blasts of bitterly cold air across the southern Prairies, the orientation of the jet stream will be responsible for ushering in Arctic air masses, which will send temperatures plummeting across Alberta and Saskatchewan.
In the eastern part of the country, there’ll be milder temperatures. The report noted that while temperatures will be mild, more snow days than normal are predicted for the upper Great Lakes and northern Quebec this winter.
In the Maritimes where they are still cleaning up from the affects of Hurricane Fiona, they can expected higher-than-average water temperatures with winter starting off more mild than normal.
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