It has always been very difficult to get a decent “on the record” long-range seasonal weather prediction from one of our official expert weather service providers – looking at you Environment Canada and The Weather Network!
Thankfully, there is another brave prognosticator of precipitation out there, the good old Farmer’s Almanac, willing to stake their well-earned reputation on a full-winter seasonal forecast for all the regions of Canada. They have been providing such long-range forecasts since 1818 and claim to have logged an accuracy of 75%-80% over the years. Let’s commend them for their perspicacity and examine what they claim we have in store for us this winter!
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, the winter of 2020-2021 will be “The Winter of the Great Divide: Wet, white, and wild in the West, everything crazy in the East.” Now that’s what I call a gripping headline!
Their region by region breakdown is as follows:
The eastern provinces (newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Brunswick will experience unseasonably mild conditions for most of the winter.
The entire province of Quebec and the eastern and central parts of Ontario will see “normal” winter temperatures overall, however, this will be based on periods of unseasonably mild temperatures oscillating with periods of bitter cold!
Western Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and eastern British Columbia are going to be suffering through much colder than normal winter temperatures. Finally, our friends on the Pacific coast of British Columbia will be enjoying normal temperatures for the winter.
But what of our precipitation forecast? Well, the good folks at the Farmer’s Almanac advise those of us in Ontario to be prepared for a “snowier than normal” winter, so keep those shovels and snow blowers at hand! They are even going out on a limb and predicting that the second week of January will bring heavy snowfalls to Ontario, and a reverse of the old winter classic – this year March will come in like a lamb but go out like a lion! A ferocious one apparently, with significant late-season snowfalls throughout Ontario and the eastern provinces.
So, there you have it, right from the Farmer’s mouth; our seasonal forecast in a nutshell. All that’s left to do now is wait and see how accurate it really is.
Ken Jorgenson
