Albertans could be in for a warmer winter after experiencing a cooler fall.

This from Environment and Climate Change Canada, which has stated that an El Nino Modoki is setting up to bring warmer temperatures to Western Canada, with normal to above normal precipitation.

Sara Hoffman, Meteorologist with ECCC, says a Modoki is a more specialized type of El Nino.

"An El Nino is when you have warmer sea surface temperatures near the coast of South America and that can affect the patterns that establish weather elsewhere in the world, so, a Modoki is a specialized kind where it is slightly closer to the international date line, that blob of warmer water, so it affects the patterns in a slightly different way, but it should still have a similar affect on Alberta's winter."

Just because a slightly warmer winter is being predicted, we should still be ready for cold air out breaks and snow storms by making sure our homes and vehicles are prepared.

"Even though we make a seasonal forecast like this, that still does not dismiss normal winter events," explains Hoffman. "Even though we're forecasting a little bit warmer winter that doesn't mean that we won't have cold air outbreaks, it just means that when we were to average out our temperatures over that entire time it would still be slightly higher than normal, but those cold air outbreaks are still possible."

According to Hoffman, out of 136 years of records, this was the 33rd coldest fall the region has experienced so far.

For the full five day forecast, click here.

 

Questions, comments, or story ideas? Email news@okotoksonline.com