WINTER WEATHER

Brace yourself: we may get 12 centimetres of snow Sunday through Monday

This concludes our extended yearlong edition of “El Niño Visits Hamilton.” We now return you to our regularly scheduled Canadian winter.

Brace yourselves, the forecast is calling for as much as 12 centimetres of snow on Sunday through to Monday, followed by a brief return of the two words that send chills up the spine. No, not “Donald Trump.” It’s polar vortex, albeit a miniature version that will hang around for a week or so.

Thursday’s daytime high temperature could be just -10 C, and Friday is forecast to be -8 C. Ah, it was fun while it lasted. “From December of last year to November, there’s never been a warmer year in Hamilton, and that includes all seasons,” said Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips. “So this is a bit of a slap in the face.

“We somehow thought maybe climate change has arrived,” he said. “Maybe we won’t be the Great White North anymore.

“We may be the second-coldest country in the world and the snowiest country in the world but we’re always happier when we cheat winter.”

Phillips says there’s a good chance Hamilton will have a white Christmas this year, something we haven’t had in three years.

Beyond that, Phillips said, the long-range forecast calls for “something for everybody this winter” — not nearly as mild as last winter but not the bone-chilling cold of the two winters before that.

“We’re going to have almost a yoyo effect, back and forth, up and down,” said Phillips.

“Clearly, we’re going to have more of a winter than last year,” he said. “There was a super El Niño last year that affected the whole world, not just Canada.”

But first we have to negotiate this weekend and a system that’s pushing in from the U.S. Midwest.

If the storm’s path stays closer to Lake Erie, the temperature will stay below freezing and we’re expected to get just snow. But if the path moves north, temperatures could rise just above freezing and it could be a messy mix of snow, rain, ice pellets and freezing rain.

“A few kilometres one way or the other could make the difference in whether it’s strictly all snow or a bit of everything,” said Phillips.