Continuing mild.. record highs likely Thursday

The mild weather of December has continued into January, as Arctic air remains trapped well to the north.. unable to push south due to a strong westerly flow aloft bringing surges of mild Pacific air across the Prairies. Tuesday was another very mild day across southern MB, with temperatures rising above freezing once again in Winnipeg (+0.6C), and a record +6.5C in Carman, MB.. the provincial hot spot. Today will see temperatures around the freezing mark before another surge of Pacific air spreads across southern Manitoba Thursday, with temperatures forecast to reach record breaking values in the +4 to +7C range. Snowfree areas of the western RRV from Portage through Carman to Morden/Gretna areas may even hit the 10C mark Thursday.. over 20C above normal. In Winnipeg, a high of +7C is forecast, which would easily break the record high for January 5th of +4.3C set in 1984. Slightly cooler temperatures are expected for Friday into the weekend, but still remaining some 5-10C above normal for early January (normal highs of -13C, normal lows -23C) No significant precipitation is expected through the next 5 days.

The mild and dry weather is coming off the heels of a very mild and dry December in southern Manitoba, which finished as the 9th mildest December on record in Winnipeg (-8.1C, +6.3C above normal) with only about 5 cm of snow the entire month (9th least snowiest December on record) Average daily temperatures have been consistently above average since Dec 10th. Mild Decembers have been fairly common the past decade. Five of the top 18 mildest Decembers in Winnipeg have occurred within the past 10 years (2011, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2003). December marked the 6th consecutive month in Winnipeg that has averaged above normal temperature wise. (see temperature graph of past 12 months)