Winterpeg, Manisnowba. After a peculiarly warm winter season, many around our city and province have been left wondering if we still live up to this moniker. As December mornings and January nights have passed with fewer snowstorms and higher temperatures, Manitobans have been left with an uneasy sense of malaise. Though the 2023-24 winter season consisted of fewer hours shoveling and less frantic drives, Manitobans were also prevented from partaking in activities we cherish during the wintertime: ice-fishing, skating at the Forks, and spending afternoons tobogganing and skiing. For the first time in my life, there was no snow in the traditionally freezing month of February. 

It goes without saying that this winter was one that broke many previous records. The season has been recorded as the warmest winter in Canadian history, primarily due to drastic temperature anomalies in Manitoba and Ontario, breaking the previous record (held by the winter of 2009-10) by 1.3°C. The Weather Network has also identified this winter to be the second warmest winter in the history of Winnipeg, with its temperatures being slightly lower than the winter of 1877-1878. Normally, the seasonal mean (average) temperature is –14.3°C, however, this year’s mean was –8.1°C. Though numerically, it may not seem drastic, this abnormality has caused havoc and disruption on many fronts. 

The cause of this phenomenon is far from simple and consists of a combination of climate change and unusual El Niño conditions. El Niño is a Pacific Ocean climate cycle, which has severe impacts on weather conditions globally. Warmer water from the ocean affects jet streams, which in this year’s instance, have travelled eastward and northward, causing milder and less snowy winters. In an El Niño year, more heat is released into the atmosphere, causing warmer and drier winters. This year’s El Niño phenomenon is one of the five strongest and most drastic El Niños on record. 

At the core of the mild winter issue, however, is the phenomenon we would all like to avoid admitting — climate change. This winter season is emblematic of the phenomenon which has unfolded before our own eyes, and the result of nearly a century of destructive environmental practice truly is catching up to us. The recent swings in weather, which have led to beautiful sunshine and clear skies one morning, to snowy, cold conditions the next are also induced by climate change and the high concentration of greenhouse gases within our atmosphere. 

The effects of this weather phenomenon are expected to linger beyond the next few weeks. Certain businesses, including outdoor skating rinks, ski resorts, and festivals have already faced a financial hit due to the weather, whereas others, such as golf courses, have opened early due to warmer conditions. While some may be celebrating the “nicer” conditions, farmers fear another rough crop season due to lower moisture levels in the soils, caused directly by lower snowfall this winter. 

In order to prevent even milder future winter temperatures, we as Manitobans are called to educate ourselves on such issues, especially as we head into Earth Month. Be it awareness or tangible action items such as carpooling and proper waste disposal, there’s much we can do to act and reverse the crises. 

Though a warm, mild winter may seem abnormal to us, the harsh reality is that winters such as this one are expected to become more common in the future. Circumstance calls upon us to reconsider our identity as a province; “Winterpeg, Manisnowba” may soon become a title of the past.