You're not imagining it Ottawa is warmer and snowier than usual this winter - Action News
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Ottawa

You're not imagining it Ottawa is warmer and snowier than usual this winter

Over the past few months, the city has been struck by unusually warm and snowy weather.

Saturday should bring total snowfall close to 3 metres since November's first flakes

A jogger (in shorts!) runs on a snow-covered path.
A jogger in shorts makes their way along Dows Lake in Ottawa Nov. 16, 2022 after one of the first snowfalls of autumn. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

No, it's not in your head Ottawa is warmer and snowier than usual this winter.

Over the past couple months, the city has been struck by unusually warm weather, upending keyactivitiessuch asWinterludeand skating on the Rideau Canal Skateway.

February was Ottawa's fifth straight month with a mean temperaturewarmer than average, compared to weather data collected overnearly three decades.

The sharpest difference was in January. The mean Januarytemperature in Ottawa between 1981 and 2010 was 10.2C. This year, the mean temperature was 5.9 C.

The city is also seeing more snowfall than usual.

Ottawa's international airport has recorded roughly 280 centimetres of snow since the first flakes fell in November. Its average winter is about 225 centimetres.

That site has only seen 300 centimetres of snow three times since 2000.

Environment Canada forecasts more snowSaturday. It could be Ottawa's 12th day with at least 10 centimetres of snow since winter began Dec. 21 and would push it closer to that three metre mark.