Stubborn temperatures staying put for a while
There is no immediate relief coming from the frigid cold, says Environment Canada.
“Just write off February. Just write it off. It’s not worth anything,” said Dave Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada. “The Chinooks are missing in action. Nothing can remove this bully of cold air that you’ve got.”
If you want to find a brutal and persistently cold February like this one you have to all the way back to 1936, said Phillips.
The average temperature for Medicine Hat in February should be -2 C during the day and -12 C at night.
This week the temperatures are between -13 and -17 colder than those averages.
This polar vortex is heavy, thick and dense making it very difficult to move, he said. It would take a big monster storm to move it.
“There is no melting going to happen this month,” said Phillips. “There is no rescue warmth coming your way, no white knight that is going to kick that bully out.”
March gets us closer to spring but don’t expect spring weather. Phillips expects March to be cooler than normal but there will be some melting of snow.
El Nino, a warming of the Pacific ocean waters that generally means warmer weather, was supposed to bring a milder winter but it appears to be “dead in the water”, said Phillips.
There is one thing to look forward to.
The days are getting longer and February is the shortest month of the year. So, if there had to be a frigid month at least it was February, said Phillips.
Considering the warm December and January enjoyed, when the final numbers are crunched for the whole of winter this may not go down in history as being a cold winter overall.