Major swing in pattern levels out national weather divide
While Eastern Canada will not get nearly as cold as Western Canada, temperatures next week will generally be a few degrees cooler than seasonal.
The weather pattern across Canada will look quite different this week compared to the conditions folks saw last week, particularly in Eastern Canada where several major cities experienced their last 20°C day of 2020.
So, is winter here to stay across western Canada and where is the frigid weather headed next? Please read on for details.
The various shades of green on the temperature anomaly map below highlight the exceptionally cold weather that has stretched from the Yukon to the western Great Lakes during the past 10 days. This region (especially Alberta) has seen record cold, heavy snow and temperatures 10 to 15 degrees colder than seasonal.
Meanwhile, above seasonal temperatures have continued to dominate across Atlantic Canada. In between the contrasting temperature patterns, southern Ontario and southern Quebec have been the battleground with changeable temperatures and frequent periods of rain.
A significant shift in the pattern will continue through the week. First, the cold weather across Western Canada will spread east. While Eastern Canada will not get nearly as cold as Western Canada, temperatures next week will generally be a few degrees cooler than seasonal.
Across Western Canada, temperatures will steadily recover back to near seasonal during the first half of next week. As a result, by the middle of next week, temperatures will be rather uniform from west to east across Canada.
The western warmup could suffer a brief interruption at the end of next week as temperatures could drop back below seasonal across the Prairies for a couple of days. However, temperatures will still be much warmer than what we have seen this week.
As we look ahead to next weekend, which will bring us both Halloween and the first day of November, we expect that chilly weather will dominate much of Canada, but the focus of the colder weather will be much further east than what we have seen during this past week.
Cooler than seasonal temperatures will be widespread across eastern and Northern Canada, but southern Ontario could trend back to seasonal for the weekend. The West will be more variable with slightly above seasonal temperatures for parts of B.C. and possibly into southwestern Alberta. Near seasonal or cooler than seasonal temperatures will be found across the rest of the region. However, we do not expect that anywhere across Canada will see extreme temperature anomalies for Halloween.
During the first week of November, we expect that warmer weather will rebuild across Western Canada and slowly spread to the east. However, the chilly weather will hold tough for several days across Eastern Canada before finally giving way to the milder weather as we head towards the second week of November.
