Monday's temperature smashes 60-year-old record in Waterloo region
Previous record for March 4 was set in 1964 when temperatures rose to 11.7C
This year's winter has smashed another weather record as the temperature climbed up to 20.5 C in Kitchener Monday.
The previous record for March 4 was set 60 years ago in 1964 when temperatures rose to 11.7 C. The average temperature for March 4 between then and now sits at around 1 C.
The nearly 20 degree difference may seem abrupt, but the region's warm temperatures aren't coming as much of a surprise to Robert McLeman, an environmental studies professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo.
In an interview with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo earlier this year, McLeman said that the mild temperatures are because of an El Niño winter weather pattern over the Pacific Ocean.
"This is a natural global climate phenomena that happens once or twice each decade," McLeman said. "In the context of southern Ontario ... it means milder than average temperatures, especially in the winter time."
People enjoying outdoors
Lisa Stocco is the communications manager for the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA). She said the warmer winter temperatures this year have put many typical winter attractions on hold.
"Our conservation areas have not been able to offer winter activities like cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and ice fishing this winter due to the warm temperatures," Stocco said.
Matt Amy is the superintendent at the GRCA's Pinehurst Lake Conservation Area. He said that despite high demand for winter activities every time it snows, guests at his park have managed to adapt to the warm weather.
"There were people just yesterday playing Frisbee with their families and picnicking on our beach. Normally, there's a lot more snow and a lot more skiers this time of year," he said.
Amy said that the warm weather has brought a high demand for some services that aren't in season yet.
"People are asking questions about when the camping is open but those dates are pretty set in stone," he said.
"It's been really nice and we're able to kind of adapt to the changing weather," Amy said. "We're still hoping for lots of snow next year."
WATCH | Waterloo region weather record smashed Monday:
According to McLeman, it's likely that Amy's hopes might become reality. He said what typically follows an El Niño is a La Niña.
"Envisage it being like a saloon door," McLeman said. "In the case of El Niño, it pushes it in a warm direction. When the climate resets itself, it doesn't reset itself to normal, it actually swings right past to a bit cooler than normal before it starts to come back."
He said that, based on past experiences, in theory the La Niña winter will be much cooler than this year's experience for people in the region.
Weather contest winner already
For the past 25 years, the E.D. Soulis Weather station at the University of Waterloo has run a contest to see who can guess which will be the first 20 C day in a calendar year.
The contest closed for entries on Friday and was won at 2:30 p.m. on Monday.
It was the earliest 20 C was hit in the contest history.
Outlook for the week
Geoff Coulson is a weather preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. He said Tuesday's forecast is calling for 15 C, which would come close to the record of 16.4 C set in 2004.
The forecast for this week is:
- Tuesday: 15 C with a chance of showers.
- Wednesday: 6 C and cloudy with a chance of showers.
- Thursday: 10 C and sunny.
- Friday: 10 C and cloudy.
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