Nova Scotia has had a mild winter so far.
With Saturday showers and temperatures peaking in the double digits, the season is typically seen in October or November, and is unusual for mid-January.
Read more: Halifax breaks record for lowest year-end snowfall
By midday on Saturday, Halifax was actually the warmest place in the country and the warm weather meant there was no snow.
Jim Abrahams, president of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, said, “If I’m looking at the record for Halifax Airport in the history of Halifax, this has been the least snowy year.”
Abrahams notes that typically by this point in winter, Halifax would have seen about 90 cm of snow, but this year there has been no more than six cm and no snowfall up to five cm – a record as of Sunday.
“We’ve never gone through mid-January without gaining five cm [snowfall], We haven’t got five cm of snow yet,” said Abraham.
Abraham says there is no doubt that climate change is a factor. The ocean around Atlantic Canada has been about three to five degrees warmer than normal this year.
But even though winters are expected to be milder on average due to rising temperatures worldwide, the lack of snow this year is still unusual.
Abraham says another factor could be that it’s a La Nina year.
“La Niñas, although they don’t have a major impact on the East Coast because it’s a Pacific anomaly, actually result in colder than normal winters in western Canada,” Abrahams said.
“Because the atmosphere travels in waves, if it’s cold in the west, it’s warm in the east.”
Temperatures are expected to be above average throughout January, but Abraham says February and March are expected to be closer to normal.
“We’ll get snow, it’s a matter of time.”
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