Meteorologist looking at factors besides climate change, as Niagara temps peak 15 degrees warmer than normal
We are experiencing a weather system that Environment Canada says is roughly 15 degrees warmer than what it should be for the beginning of March.
Meteorologist David Phillips says in all the years he's covered the weather, he's not seen it like this.
And it's not just in Niagara, but in other parts of the world.
He adds communities need to become more weatherproof. "We're talking about greater extremes... stormier storms, droughtier droughts, floodier floods... I mean, wild weather. and we see that everywhere. It's not just in Bangladesh, or Batswana [South Africa], it's in Burlington, and Brandon, and Burnaby... It's everywhere."
He adds next winter could be more normal, as we cannot judge the future based solely on this year.
Phillips is looking at some consistencies to explain this. He says during past winters there were greater variations of cold and warmth, but not like the continued overall warmth of this winter, and today's weather in March.
He says all the major factors are pulling in the same direction. "That is you had warmer water temperatures, you had a lot of residual heat in the lakes, and the land, and the rivers, and oceans last year. Then you had El Nino, which was the 3rd largest El Nino in about 75 years."
He includes climate change in that equation.
As for tomorrow, there'll be scattered showers, temperature topping at 17, but then the rest of the week cools off to anywhere from 4 to 10 degrees to the weekend.
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