'Winterpeg' struggles to live up to its reputation as warm weather shatters records
18 weather records shattered in Manitoba on Thursday, 23 on Friday
A place once known for being colder than Mars is now struggling to live up to its reputation as Winterpeg, Manisnowba.
On Thursday, southern Manitoba's McCreary reached 10.6 C, breaking the record high of 7.5 C from 1989.
That was only one of 18 records broken that day, and CBC meteorologist John Sauder said it won't stop there — he's calling for temperatures of above 0 C until Dec. 10.
While Winnipeg did not break a record on Thursday, it still reached 6.3 C at The Forks during the day. This is at a time in the season when the normal high for the city is –7 C during the day, and –17 C overnight.
Charities feel the heat
While some are happy about the mild conditions, charities across Winnipeg say they are losing out on donations leading up to the holiday season because the weather is creating a scenario where "people just aren't thinking Christmas yet," said Kai Madsen, executive director of the Christmas Cheer Board.
Madsen said the cheer board is not as busy as it usually is at this time of year, in part because of fewer donations but also because fewer people have applied for hampers, which contain food and gifts.
Winter sports sidelined
At the other end of the spectrum, some people are not celebrating the warm weather — they want to see snow and ice so they can get their game on.
Unseasonably mild temperatures in recent weeks mean the ski runs at the Stony Mountain Ski area and Springhill Winter Park have yet to open.
Lots of ppl are asking when we open. We need some colder temps to make enough snow. We will make an announcement as soon as we know!
—@springhill204Wes Barker, who is responsible for making ice at Robert A. Steen and Crescentwood community centres in Winnipeg, said meeting his annual deadline of the second week of December is going to be a challenge as temperatures continue to soar above 0 C.
"Everyday you're asked, 'When's the ice ready? When's the ice ready?' And you just got to be patient," he said.
So, what's causing the mild weather that's making long-time Winnipeggers ask themselves what's going on with Winterpeg? El Nino, according to Sauder.
What is El Nino?
In a normal winter season; right along the equator, there are trade winds, which mostly blow from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere.
Those winds tend to take warm ocean waters out into the western Pacific, and Asia and northern Australia get rainy seasons.
In an El Nino year, all of that switches.
The warm pool of water moves to the eastern Pacific, and the West Coast of South America gets the rainy season as drought sets in in the western Pacific, creating cool water, seafood shortages and dry conditions.
This happened in 1997 and winter 2015-16 is expected to resemble the conditions Canada saw in winter 1997-98.
And, Sauder said, it's not always a good thing for Canadian weather. In southern Manitoba, El Nino is expected to bring dry, warm conditions, but on Canada's West Coast, it could cause stormy weather, flooding and overall wet conditions.