Prince George, B.C. – Environment Canada has confirmed what Prince George residents have likely already figured out – this winter was unusually warm.

“For the three month period, from December right through February, the mean temperature was minus four and the normal is about almost minus seven,” says meteorologist David Jones. “So about two and a half plus degrees warmer than the average for the period we call winter.”

He says February was the warmest with temperatures a full five degrees above normal and Jones notes we have El Nino to thank for that.

“Yes, I think that’s a safe bet because El Nino this year was very strong. In December it’s not known to have much of an impact, it’s usually the first week of January that El Nino starts to be felt and that’s exactly what happened.”

As for precipitation levels? “Just around average,” says Jones. So about 95% of normal precipitation. That’s total precipitation being rain plus melted snow. The average total precipitation is about 126 millimeters and we had 118.”

Coming out of an El Nino winter he says it’s very likely Prince George residents can expect warmer temperatures this spring as well.

“The strong El Nino in the tropical Pacific usually means that the spring will be warmer than average in terms of temperature. But that’s about all we can predict.”

Jones says Prince George will also be spared the worst of the wintry burst affecting the South Coast and Southern Interior today.

“It’s a fairly vigorous system. We have a couple of snowfall warnings out for the mountain passes in the southern interior. That storm will be arriving in Prince George much later in the day but it won’t be having the same impact over the Central Interior.”