Prairie Weather This Week – January 13

It'll be mild until the weekend, then.....Yikes! As mentioned in last Thursday's midweek update, La Nina has arrived.  It was officially declared on January 9th, and is expected to persist for a few weeks, maybe into April.  The expectation is for La Nina to remain weak.    Prairie weather characteristics of La Nina events include colder than average weather, with above average snowfall.  It's a weak La Nina, and no specific forecasts can be made, but for the next two or three months, it's best to be prepared for cold, sometimes snowy weather.   And, just to give you a hint of the cold air that's likely on its way, this is a map showing expected temperatures in the early morning of Monday January 20.    It's a long way out, and this is not a specific forecast, but it does show temperatures as low as -30 C as far south as the mountains of Utah and Colorado, along with southern Saskatchewan.