Mild winter temperatures are getting higher across the country due to climate change, an extreme weather expert says.
parts of Southern Ontario Recent days have seen unseasonably warm temperatures and rain warnings, with some local conservation officials warning the public to stay away from waterways as water levels are expected to rise due to rain and melting snow.
Although it is difficult to attribute individual weather events Climate changeBlair Feltmate, head of the Intact Center on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo, says global warming-caused instability of the polar vortex is contributing to the unusual extreme temperatures compared to what has been seen in the past.
“That’s what we’re seeing in weather … Not every extreme temperature event can be directly linked to climate change, but it’s certainly consistent with climate change predictions,” says Feltmate.
Record highs across southern Ontario Friday, warm weather expected to continue
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“What we are going to see is a change in the frequency of extreme manifestations of extreme temperatures – hot or cold.”
Feltmet says cold air from the north is migrating further south as a direct function of global warming, bringing wetter conditions to areas that don’t normally experience that level of cold.
On the other hand, warmer air from the south could travel further north, which could mean more extreme rainfall events at times of year when they are not expected, resulting in worsening flooding, he says. .
“That precipitation can come down as snow that forms just below the freezing point or as large rain events,” says Feltmetz.
“It’s making flooding more problematic for Canada overall, and the No. 1 manifestation of climate change in Canada is flooding, particularly residential basement flooding, flooding in municipalities including individual homes.”
FeltMate says that 10 percent of the housing market is no longer insurable for basement flooding due to the increasing frequency and danger of residential flooding.
Doug Gillham, a meteorologist with The Weather Network, says that after seeing a front-loaded winter in December, much of the country is now seeing an extended winter break and warmer-than-normal temperatures.
He says, “We are used to January’s Thews, but this January has become much more than just a Thews.
“It’s actually quite different from the winter pattern that’s going to last much longer than normal and be so widespread.”
However, Gillham says cooler-than-normal temperatures are expected to return in late January or early February.
Meanwhile, Environment Canada issued a warning of mixed rain and freezing rain Wednesday for many areas in southern Ontario.
The weather agency said areas with sleet warnings such as Cornwall and Belleville could see snow mixed with pellets of snow until Thursday morning, while areas such as Niagara and Simcoe were expected to see another round of rain until Wednesday evening .
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