El Nino doesn't guarantee a 'brown Christmas' in Sask., meteorologist says

With the weather phenomenon known as El Nino expected to impact much of western Canada this winter, including Saskatchewan, one meteorologist wants people to know it doesn’t mean no snow and above-zero temperatures will be the everyday norm.

With the weather phenomenon known as El Nino expected to impact much of western Canada this winter, including Saskatchewan, one meteorologist wants people to know it doesn’t mean no snow and above-zero temperatures will be the everyday norm.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) meteorologist Terri Lang says people in Saskatchewan should still expect to see winter conditions this year.

"It’s still [going to be] winter in Saskatchewan," Lang said.

"I think with El Nino everybody remembers back to 1997-98 when it was one of the strongest El Ninos on record and it was above zero and a brown Christmas and expect that every time," Lang said.

Lang said El Nino simply means that at the end of meteorological winter, on average, temperatures will have been above seasonal with less precipitation. She emphasized it doesn’t always mean an extremely warm winter with no snow.

Lang said the last recorded El Nino was in 2015-16 and is more than likely what this coming winter could be like.

"So it doesn’t mean it’s not going to snow or get cold,” she said. “It just means on average when you add the numbers up at the end of winter it usually tends to be warmer with less precipitation."