Prince George, B.C. – The warmer than usual temperatures Prince George has been experiencing recently are expected to last until the end of this month.

Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa Coldwells says it’s all thanks to the Pineapple Express.

“Its set itself up with warm, moist air coming from the Hawaiian islands across the Pacific Ocean and slamming right into the B.C. coast. This particular system is so strong that it’s actually pushing all the way into the interior.”

She notes the warm temperatures are indeed uncommon for this time of year but not unheard of.

For example Coldwells says back on January 20th, 1981 the temperature hit 11.5 degrees and says it was also warm for 10 days last January (normals for this time of year are highs of minus 3 and overnight lows of minus 11).

“Last year there was a warm spell in Prince George from the 13th all the way through to the 23rd and the temperature topped out at 6 degrees. But during that warm period there wasn’t much rain.”

Coldwells says it’s too early to predict if the warm weather will stick around and cause havoc for the Canada Winter Games though.

“We don’t know the forecast yet but we’re sort of in a very weak to negligible El Nino situation and when you compare that to other winters El Nino has made things warmer.”