THUNDER BAY — If the Environment Canada forecast proves to be accurate, Thunder Bay may break a longstanding record for the highest Jan. 31 temperature.
The predicted high for the day is 6 C.
At Thunder Bay Airport, the existing Jan. 31 record is 5.4 C, set in 1993.
Older data from a weather station on the north side of the city that ceased operating in 1941 shows the thermometer reached 6.7 C at that location in 1892.
The long-term average maximum for Jan. 31 is -7.7 C.
Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson said El Niño, a climate pattern related to the unusual warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean, is responsible for the mild weather this winter.
"Certainly, the El Niño phenomenon is one of the major drivers in the shift that we've seen since the cold snap earlier in January. We've gone back to a flow more from the west and the southwest, keeping things much milder than normal."
Temperatures for the rest of this week will remain well above average, and Coulson said this trend is likely going to continue through much of February as well, based on current long-range forecast models.
He also expects there won't be much snow falling over the city in the coming weeks.
"The main storm track now looks to be going well to the north of Thunder Bay. We will have some systems in the next week to 10 days moving from the northern Prairies into far Northwestern Ontario, up through the Hudson Bay and James Bay areas. But it doesn't look like much in the way of significant storm systems are expected along the corridor from Lake of the Woods into Thunder Bay."
Thunder Bay set three records for maximum daily temperatures in December, and the month as a whole was a record-setter because of how mild it was.
