Oshawa set for mild holidays
By Graeme McNaughton/The Oshawa Express
Oshawa’s mild December is set to break records for the warmest December in the area’s recent history.
Residents may have noted how it feels warmer than usual this holiday season – in fact, it may end up being the mildest on record.
Geoff Coulson, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, tells The Oshawa Express that milder temperatures this month are on course to go into the history books.
“It’s almost uncharted territory. We are likely going to break the record for the mildest December at many locations in southern Ontario, given the way trends with the temperature forecasts have continued to be milder for the second half of the month,” Coulson says. “And not just break these December records by half a degree or something, which would be notable in their own right, but we could potentially be breaking these average temperature records for December by a couple of degrees in some areas, which is pretty amazing. We look at where we are and where we should be temperature wise, and we’ll well above normal for this time of year.”
Coulson says that the current record for the Oshawa area for warmest average December temperature was set back in 2006, when the average was 2.8 C. As of Dec. 18, the average temperature this month has been 4.4 C.
“The Oshawa area has weather data dating back to 1882, so the fact that we’re possibly going to be breaking the record by a significant number is pretty noteworthy,” Coulson says.
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, the daily average temperature for December in Oshawa between 1980 and 2010 is –1.2 C.
As of Dec. 18, the coldest recorded temperature this month was in the early morning hours of Dec. 7, when the mercury dropped to –4.7 C. The warmest came on the afternoon of Dec. 14, when temperatures reached a balmy 14.9 C.
Going into the Christmas and New Years stretch, Coulson says people won’t have to worry above adverse weather conditions keeping them from their destinations.
“For anyone planning travel (this week) for getting somewhere for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, driving around southern Ontario and the states near the Great Lakes shouldn’t pose much of a problem,” Coulson says. “Temperatures should stay above the freezing mark.”
In the immediate future, given the warmer temperatures, the only precipitation Oshawa residents can expect is rain, rather than snow, Coulson says, adding that meteorologists aren’t seeing any snow on the horizon.
“We’re not really seeing anything in the near-term forecast that would indicate any kind of significant snow fall,” Coulson says. “I looked at the latest model information, which is for beyond Christmas and into Boxing Day and a few days beyond that, and it’s still looking too mild. We may have to wait to get into January to see something more along those lines.”