February could get a bit chilly in the Prince George area.
Environment Canada’s outlook for next month is indicating a chance of below normal temperatures for February.
Environment Canada Senior Climatologist David Phillips says areas including all of British Columbia, all of the prairies, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and northwestern Ontario could be in for some chilly temperatures next month because of the polar vortex moving southward.
Phillips says the vortex above the north pole appears to be on the move and it could bring cold Siberian air to North America.
For our area, Environment Canada Meteorologist Alyssa Charbonneau said it’s not certain how cold it could be
“The forecast we have is not giving a specific value for how much colder than normal it would be,” she said.
“We are seeing right now for the Prince George area about a 50 per cent chance that we’ll see temperatures below normal for the month of February.”
Charbonneau noted the normal daytime highs for the month of February are -0.4, and the normal overnight lows are -9.6.
“It’s interesting because of course December was much below normal, particularly right in the leadup to Christmas, and then after Christmas we switched to this weather pattern that’s been bringing us above average temperatures pretty much ever since,” she said.
“Looking forward over the next seven days or so, we continue to see temperatures a little bit above our daytime normal. There’s a bit of variability there, we do have some colder days mixed in, but in general we’re still a little bit above normal.”
Charbonneau said the colder weather could potentially start towards the end of the month.