Those who aren’t fans of winter have had plenty to criticize so far this year, and plenty to cheer now that spring’s on the horizon.
Though wintry weather was slow coming, it picked up in earnest after the holidays. Where this area normally sees about 125 centimetres of snow, this year there was some 158. While the weather is starting to shift, it likely won’t be until late-April that warmer weather really sets in, predicts Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips.
“We certainly have seen more snow and colder conditions. The Kitchener, Guelph area, you’ve had 10 days below minus-20, so it’s been certainly colder. But also, it has been snowy here,” said Phillips.
“The good news is some of that snow has disappeared. And I say good because this is the beginning of the mud season, the flood season. You don’t want a lot of snow sitting on the ground because the ground is pretty frozen and it’s going to take a while to get rid of the snow and also to start melting the ground. And if you get a rush to spring, that is to go from slush to wet, well then, all that snow will disappear quickly, and it can run into the rivers and the streams. You can end up with some flooding.”
The Weather Network’s spring forecast issued earlier this month predicts most Canadians will need to be patient as we wait for consistent warm weather. They are also predicting above normal precipitation for Ontario.
“Spring is known for its changeable weather, but this year looks especially tumultuous,” said Chris Scott, chief meteorologist with The Weather Network, in a release. “Periods of warm spring weather will be a delightful contrast to winter’s fury which we’ve all experienced at times during the past three months.”
Phillips suggests it should be a good year for the maple syrup producers in the area, many of whom have already begun tapping, with a mix of mild and cold temperatures for this month and April.
“What you want is almost a maple syrup kind of weather. You want it to be mild and then cold so you can get rid of the snow gradually without having it be an encumbrance on you in terms of having too much melt and at the time that spring rains come.
“We still have some winter to go. We clearly typically still have about 20 per cent of our annual snowfall occurs after the 1st of March. So just because you’ve had a lot doesn’t mean that you’re going to not get anymore – April’s the cruel month, they say, and that’s probably because you think you should be in spring when in fact you’ve got winter out your window.”
Phillips noted that March’s weather will have a bit of back-and-forth effect as some days we will still see a bit more snow. The first week of March presented fairly warm temperatures for Waterloo Region with glimpses of the snow melting. The melting snow has created some flooding in the Grand River system over the last couple weeks.
“We’re talking about periods of rain and 7 degrees. But we could see some snow in the meantime. So, this is the time where you could get the white stuff, or you get the liquid stuff. It’s almost an equal chance. Then of course there is concern of the flooding,” said Phillips.
“Overall, we’re seeing I would say normal conditions for the spring, good maple syrup kind of weather. And from a precipitation point of view, we think it will be a wetter than normal spring.
“That’s why I’m still concerned about flooding, with more snow this year than we’ve had and now we get the spring rains. We still haven’t warmed up enough to soften the ground. Well, that could lead to some, as we say, some standing water and pools. The weekly forecasts in March, we’re showing kind of the first part of March being a little milder than normal, the middle part being a little colder than normal. And then the last half, the last part of March, a real warm-up.”
Phillips is expecting normal temperatures for April this year, with chances of a few more snow dumps.
“April is always a little tough because we don’t expect the return of winter and yet it always has its last hurrah, and it sometimes comes back and gives us snow but then it melts in two days. It has no lasting power, so that’s what we’re saying: nothing too spectacular other than just kind of normal – I think that that’s really what you want at this time of the year.”
