Don’t let the recent colder temperatures fool you: trends show we might have a milder winter this year.

David Philips, Senior Climatologist for Environment Canada says it’s thanks to a super El Niño:

"What it does, is it generally allows more pacific air to blow across the prairies then the northern arctic air. Now it doesn’t eliminate the arctic air, but it tends to keep it up there into the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Now occasionally it will come down but not every day, and so what our models are suggesting, is that we think it will be a milder than normal winter".

Philips says since 1950 Thompson has had 7 super El Niño’s. In 4 of those we saw warmer than normal temperatures, 1 was cooler, and 2 were seasonal.