Issued: Monday, February 16, 2009 Covering: February 18 –February 25

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Published: February 19, 2009

After a mild and messy start last week, this week it looks like things will be a little more winterlike. High pressure built into the region last weekend, bringing with it some sunshine and more average winterlike temperatures.

This area of high pressure ended up keeping a strong storm system well to our south during the first half of the week. As this area of high pressure slowly slides to the south, we should see temperatures moderate toward the end of the week. Temperatures will start the week with highs in the -15 to -20C range and will warm to around -5 to -10C by Friday.

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Over the weekend, a complex area of low pressure is forecast to begin developing to our west. At the same time a second small push of arctic air will attempt to slide southward. The question is whether the western low will be strong enough to keep this arctic air out of our region. So the weekend forecast is a little up in the air as to whether we see some mild weather move in or a return to cooler conditions.

During the first half of next week we will have to watch to see what the complex western low will do. Currently the weather models forecast some light snow for our region on Monday and Tuesday. The main energy from this system is forecast to remain to our south, along with any significant snowfall. Since most systems have been behaving this way so far this winter, I lean toward this solution, but we still need to watch this system closely.

Usual temperature range for this period: Highs: -16 to -1C. Lows: -29 to -10C.

About the author

Daniel Bezte

Daniel Bezte

Co-operator contributor

Daniel Bezte is a teacher by profession with a BA (Hon.) in geography, specializing in climatology, from the U of W. He operates a computerized weather station near Birds Hill Park.

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