Saskatchewan to see ‘above normal’ temperatures for Christmas

The weather for Santa Claus and his reindeer is looking good for Christmas.

According to Danielle Desjardins, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, the province can expect a warmer-than-normal holiday season.

“It looks actually quite dry and above normal for temperatures,” she said. “In the southwest corner, we’re very likely to see temperatures rise above zero, and in the rest of southern Saskatchewan, definitely approaching zero.”

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The normal temperature varies across the province, but Desjardins said the average for this time of year is about -7 C or -8 C.

Leading up to Christmas, she said there is nothing major for people to worry about except for the potential for short-lived freezing rain in the province’s southwest corner.

“There’s a slight chance of that in the overnight period Saturday into Sunday morning,” she said.

Environment Canada issued a freezing rain warning for the area at around 4 p.m. Saturday.

The freezing rain will likely be mixed with snow in some areas with temperatures expected around the freezing point.

Environment Canada recommends drivers use extra caution if they have to travel in the area.

The freezing rain warning includes areas like Maple Creek, Shaunavon and Coronach.
(Environment Canada/screenshot)

After Christmas, she said the warm weather is likely to continue. However, she said the balmy weather could lead to periods of thawing during the day and freezing overnight, which could cause problems on the highway.

“Driving could be a little bit messy,” she said. “But other than that, it still looks relatively dry and relatively warm heading into the new year.”

“Roller coaster” weather

Desjardins said weather across the prairies has been “interesting” since November.

“November ended up about average, but we saw some pretty cold temperatures at the end of November. December has kind of been a roller coaster, where we’ve seen extreme cold warnings and then followed by abnormally warm temperatures for the province,” she said.

She said this is likely because of the weak La Nina the province is experiencing this winter.

“With a strong La Nina, typically, we would expect snowier and colder over the prairies, but because that signal is relatively weak this winter, those signals aren’t as strong, and there’s not as much of a correlation between the overall climate and that particular like a La Nina winter,” she explained.

“That being said, because it’s more of a neutral signal, that could be one reason why we’re kind of seeing this hovering back and forth between colder and snowier and warmer than than average.”

With the official start of the winter solstice, Desjardins said we won’t start to see longer days for a few more weeks.

— with files from 650 CKOM’s Lara Fominoff