Weekly Weather map – for Feb. 17, 2011

The Weather Vane is prepared by Daniel Bezte, a teacher by profession with a BA (Hon.) in geography, specializing in climatology, from the University of Winnipeg. Daniel has taught university-level classes in climate and weather and currently operates a computerized weather station at his home near Birds Hill Park, on 10 acres he plans to

Forecast – for Feb. 17, 2011

After a fairly dry first half of February, it’s starting to look like the weather pattern will become more active, with a couple of chances for measurable snow during this forecast period. After the near-and record-breaking mild temperatures that graced our region early in the week, the models point toward a significant cooldown by the


The Weekly Weather Map

The Weather Vane is prepared by Daniel Bezte, a teacher by profession with a BA (Hon.) in geography, specializing in climatology, from the University of Winnipeg. Daniel has taught university-level classes in climate and weather and currently operates a computerized weather station at his home near Birds Hill Park, on 10 acres he plans to

2010 Ties For Warmest Year, Emissions To Blame

Last year tied for the warmest since data started in 1880, capping a decade of record high temperatures that shows mankind’s greenhouse gas emissions are heating the planet, a U.S. agency said. Global surface temperatures in 2010 were 1.12 F (0.62 C) above the 20th century average, tying the record set in 2005, the National


Choosing A Natural Tree For The Holidays

For those of us who celebrate a more “natural” Christmas by using a real tree, there is no more telling sign that the festive season has arrived than the intoxicating aroma of a fresh Christmas tree in the house. If brought indoors and decorated too early, a natural Christmas tree will be pretty dry by

Past Weather Does Not Always Mean Future Weather

Early in September I took a quick look at the kind of weather we might expect this winter. In particular, we examined the phenomenon known as La Nińa or the “anti El Nińo.” La Nińa is a cooling of the equatorial Pacific Ocean and when this occurs it can have an impact on our winter


Weekly weather map – for Nov. 18, 2010

Before we start looking at snow cover maps, I thought we should take a look back at the total amount of precipitation received across the Prairies over the last growing season compared to historical amounts. From the map you can see that a huge portion of the agricultural Prairies saw extremely high moisture to record-wet

Possible Change In Weather Pattern

I’m going to start off this week’s article with a quick look at global weather records and patterns so far this year. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the first nine months of 2010 have been the warmest ever recorded. If this pattern keeps up, 2010 will go down as the warmest


Taking A Look At La Niña – for Sep. 16, 2010

As summer comes to an end the most common question I have received is about what we should expect the coming winter to be like. Long-range forecasting is tough at the best of times, and most forecasts beyond 30 days are usually not more statistically correct than simply doing a coin toss, but – there

When It Rains, It Pours — More Than Ever – for Jul. 29, 2010

Ihave received several emails the past few months regarding the number of heavy rainfall events and associated flooding that has occurred around the world lately. I started poking around a little bit to see what I could find on the subject, and as usual, I came across some good research. While these studies were done