Environment Canada says the average temperatures in Kenora, Dryden, Sioux Lookout and other communities in the Northwest so far in January have been above normal, but aren’t record breaking.
Meteorologist Gerald Cheng said average temperatures for some communities are among the warmest recorded.
“It has been warm but I think people have forgotten that it was actually warmer back in 2021,” he said.
“If I take a look at Kenora again, the first 17 days of January 2021 was the warmest - 5.4 C. And right now we are sitting at - 8.6 C.”
Cheng said for communities like Sioux Lookout and Dryden, the first bit of 2021 was also warmer than the average temperatures now.
He said the temperatures in Northwestern Ontario depend what happens with weather patterns in Western Canada, which is what caused the record temperatures in 2021.
“It really had to do with the pattern of the of the entire period, because if the jet stream moves north and if it brings warmer air to Northwestern Ontario then [it] will stay warm,” Cheng said. “And if the jet stream doesn't really change its shape, then we will stay in this pattern for a long while, and that's what we've seen for Northwestern Ontario for the first 17 days of this year.”
Cheng said the area will wait until the end of the month to start to see normal, colder temperatures.
“Then we'll start to see colder air moving into Northwestern Ontario,” he said. “The jury is still out on February. Usually, we still see big swings in temperature, so it really depends on what the west will look like because what they see will affect what we see in Northwestern Ontario.”
