Manitoba

Mild December weather breaks 18 records across southern Manitoba

Unseasonably mild temperatures melted at least 18 weather records across southern Manitoba on Thursday.

Mercury reached 10.6 C in McCreary, Man., while temps rose above 6 C in downtown Winnipeg

Students at the University of Winnipeg take in the mild weather on campus on Thursday. (CBC)

Unseasonably mild temperatures melted at least 18 weather records across southern Manitoba on Thursday.

"We've had temperatures as high as 10.5 C in one of the areas where we broke a record, and that's McCreary ... 10.5 C on a December afternoon," CBC meteorologist John Sauder said Thursday afternoon, before the mercury there went up a little higher to 10.6 C.

Preliminary numbers from Environment Canada show which locations broke high-temperature records:

  • Berens River (airport): 2.7 C — breaks record of 0.7 C from 1999.
  • Carberry: 6.9 C — breaks record of 5.1 from 2004.
  • Carman: 7.2 C — breaks record of 6.1 from 2004.
  • Fisher Branch: 5.7 C — breaks record of 4.2 C from 2004.
  • Flin Flon (airport): 2.4 C — breaks record of –2.5 C from 2000.
  • George Island: 2.7 C — breaks record of 1.8 C from 1999.
  • Gimli Harbour: 6.7 C — breaks record of 4.8 C from 2004.
  • Grand Rapids: 4.4 C — breaks record of –1 C from 2003.
  • Gretna: 9.8 C — breaks record of 6 C from 2004.
  • McCreary: 10.6 C — breaks record of 7.5 C from 1989.
  • Melita: 7.8 C — breaks record of 5.3 C from 2004.
  • Morden: 9.6 C — breaks record of 7.1 from 2004.
  • Pilot Mound: 8.5 C — breaks record of 5.7 C from 2004.
  • Pinawa: 5.2 C — breaks record of 3.4 C from 1999.
  • Portage (Southport Airport): 7.1 C — breaks record of 6.2 C from 2004.
  • Shoal Lake: 5.2 C — breaks record of 5.1 C from 2004.
  • Victoria Beach: 5.5 C — breaks record of 2.6 C from 1999.
  • Wasagaming: 5.3 C — breaks record of 4.7 C from 2004.

In Winnipeg, the mercury peaked at 6.3 C at The Forks, but Sauder said no record was broken at the city's official site, the airport. There, the daytime high reached 4 C.

"Still a very warm day considering that the normal high is –7 C," Sauder said, whose forecast calls for an overnight low of –4 C in the city.

Normals in Winnipeg for this time of year are –7 C during the day and –17 C overnight.

Sauder's forecast is calling for more temperatures above 0 C during the daytime until next Thursday.