Is the Warm Weather Ending Soon?

Thunder Bay – WEATHER – Sunday is another day with temperatures above seasonal normals. However it appears, at least if Environment Canada’s senior climatologist David Philips is right, that colder temperatures are coming. If Phillips is right, the weather term “Polar Vortex” is going to become the weather norm by the end of January. While the coldest temperatures of the winter are often in January and February, Phillips is predicting a shift in the jet stream. which has been allowing warmer Pacific air in recent weeks to block the colder Arctic air mass from moving south.

Phillips reports, “One of the indicators is the jet stream – a river of air that blows from west to east – that has been flooding Canada with a lot of Pacific air and southerly air. It acts as a fence to the vortex, keeping it in the north,”

“It’s not a sure thing that it’s going to happen. I’ve looked at our models and it looks like in the fourth week of January we will begin to see cold air plunging down from Manitoba to Quebec and into the Maritimes. In the Prairies it will be generally normal,” says Philips. “There’s nothing guaranteed with weather and it’s not often well understood to give us a precise forecast.”

The message is, lets enjoy the more seasonable weather while we can.

Thunder Bay

It is -12°C at 07:30 am EST this morning. For Sunday expect a mix of sun and cloud with fog patches dissipating this morning. Winds will be fairly calm, blowing at up to 15 km/h. The daytime high -4°C with the wind chill at -18°C this morning and -8°C this afternoon.

Tonight, the forecast is calling for increasing cloudiness near midnight with a 40 percent chance of flurries overnight. There is a risk of freezing drizzle overnight. Wind up to 15 km/h. The overnight low will be -8°C with the temperature rising to -4°C by morning. The wind chill will be -13°C this evening.

There will not be any temperature records set today. The warmest it ever was recorded on this day was +3.9°C back in 1953. The coldest was in 1982 when the mercury was down hiding in the bottom of the thermometer at -36.7°C.

Geraldton

It is -8 this morning to start the day in Geraldton. This morning, skies are cloudy. They will become a mix of sun and cloud by this afternoon. Fog patches will be dissipating this morning. Winds will be up to 15 km/h. Today’s high will be -3, with the wind chill at -15 this morning and minus -7 this afternoon.

Tonight, the weather service is calling for increasing cloudiness with a 40 percent chance of flurries late this evening and after midnight. There is a risk of freezing drizzle late this evening and overnight. Keep the weather in mind on the highways. Overnight winds will be light blowing at up to 15 km/h. The temperature will be steady near -4°C, with the wind chill near -9°C.

Like Thunder Bay, there will be no new temperature records set in Geraldton today. Back in 2013 the record hight of 4.4°C was recorded. The record coldest day was in 1984 when it was a very chilly -40.9°C.

Sachigo Lake

The temperature this morning in Sachigo is -7°C under partly cloudy skies. Increasing cloudiness this morning is forecast with a 40 percent chance of flurries this afternoon. Winds becoming west 20 km/h this morning. The high today will be -8°C with the wind chill at -19°C this morning and -13°C this afternoon.
Tonight will see cloudy skies with a 30 percent chance of flurries. Winds will pick up blowing west 20 km/h gusting to 40. The overnight low will be -14°C. Wind chill will make it feel more like -15°C this evening and -23°C overnight.

Sachigo is going to dance near the record warm temperature for this date. That was -7.1°C recorded in 2014. The coldest recorded temperature on this date was -32.9°C recorded on this date only two years ago in 2019.

Kenora and Lake of the Woods

It is -8°C this morning in Kenora under cloudy skies. Skies will however, become a mix of sun and cloud later this morning. Fog patches will be dissipating this morning. Winds will become south 20 km/h this morning. The high for Sunday will be -3°C. The wind chill is -17°C this morning and will be -9°C this afternoon.

Tonight will see cloudy skies with a 30 percent chance of flurries late this evening and after midnight with risk of freezing drizzle. Winds will be from the south at 20 km/h becoming light early this evening. -7°C will be the overnight low with the wind chill near -11°C.

No new temperature records will be set today. The record high on this date was set in 2013 when it was 5.9°C. The record cold was in 1982 at -36.6°C.