Southern Manitoba is experiencing temperatures that are well above normal for this time of year.

Altona's record high for November 29th of 8.0 degrees was set in 1997. Winkler/Morden's record high of 11.1 degrees was set in 1932, and reached 8.0 yesterday. It appears the Altona/Gretna area may have set a new record yesterday, with Environment Canada reporting 8.6 degrees as the official high. Meanwhile, Carman topped out at 6.8 degrees Wednesday, 

In Winkler and Morden, the daytime high topped out at 7.9 degrees.. Even though that is not a record for November 29th, it is about 14 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year. -6 is the average daytime high for the end of November, with -14 the overnight low.

Meteorologist Natalie Hasell says southern Manitoba is currently south of a front, which is keeping the colder air to the north of us. She notes we will not see a huge difference in temperatures over the next while in the Red River Valley. 

Over the next week, Environment Canada is calling for highs between +1 and -4. Overnight lows are also expected to remain seasonal to several degrees warmer than usual.

Meanwhile, Weatherlogics is already looking ahead at the possibility of a brown Christmas on the Prairies. According to Weatherlogics, Winnipeg has a white Christmas 97 per cent of the time. A white Christmas is defined as having at least two centimetres of snow on the ground at 6 am CST on December 25th. Weatherlogics is reporting that due to the influence of El Nino, there is a greater than normal chance for a brown Christmas this year.

Hasell says since 1997, Winnipeg has had a brown Christmas three times. Those years were in 1997, 2014 and 2019.

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