While much of western Canada is facing the "coldest winter in 20 years," temperatures and snowfall for the Yorkton area shouldn't fall too far outside the norm this season.
That's the conclusion of AccuWeather.com meteorologist Brett Anderson, who this month published a 2011/2012 winter forecast for North America.
"We're looking at slightly colder than a typical winter [for Yorkton] - not a lot, just slightly. Maybe half a degree Celsius colder than normal. And in terms of snowfall, we're probably looking at slightly below average snowfall," the Pennsylvannia-based meteorologist told Yorkton This Week.
Most of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and BC is expected to face lower temperatures and lower snowfall than usual this year, but Yorkton sits on the edge of the region included in that prediction.
"The worst of the cold is going to be off to the west across western areas of Alberta into British Columbia, relative to normal. We are going to certainly have some cold blasts coming through here, but they're going to come and go, it looks like. The jet stream is going to remain fairly strong. They're not going to sit around for long."
For this area, the coldest month relative to normal should be December, Anderson said, "but it's also going to be a drier month compared to normal."
The bulk of the season's snowfall should come in January and February, as usual, along with warmer temperatures.
The basis for many of this year's predictions is a moderate La Niña phenomenon (cooler than usual waters in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean) returning from last year in a rare back-to-back appearance.
"That has a lot of impact on the weather across Canada and the United States," Anderson said.
The accuracy of seasonal forecasts such as this one are estimated at about 60 percent.
"It's better than flipping a coin, no doubt about that. But you're not looking at 70 percent, either."
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