Prince George, B.C. – Oh sure,  there may have been one or two more frosty mornings than usual,  but all in all, September weather in Prince George, was  typical.Environment Canada Meteorologist  Armel Castellan says  September was not  really  out of line  “You were really close on the temperature maximum average, and  the mean average”   with unofficial  numbers  placing the  average daily maximum at 15.8 degrees,   and 9.1 for the mean.  The thirty year average shows  the daily  mean temperature to be 9.4   and the daily maximum  average is 15.1  “However, it was the daily minimum   which over 30 years has averaged to be  3.6 degrees, and so far,   I’m measuring the average ( for this September) at 2.5, so  the minimum was a little bit lower by just over a degree.”   So there may have been more frosty mornings than in previous Septembers.

As for precipitation,  not much change there either.  This month saw 50 millimeters,  and the normal is 58 mm. “Quite typical”  says Castellan.

As for the coming winter,   that’s a little too  difficult to predict.   Castellan says El Nino has hit it’s  neutral state  but  temperatures  in the Pacific are still  warm, “Our weather in B.C. is driven by  what’s happening over the Pacific, so  if the  temperatures over the Pacific are above normal, our temperatures are going to be  above normal  too.  ”   However,   that strong influence   dwindles  the  further inland one gets from the coast.

He says  at this point,  there is no strong  system  over the Pacific  that would signal  a harsher than  usual winter  for the Prince George region.  “Right now the  projections are on the fence.  If the La Nina does materialize ( cooler water  in the Pacific)  we will come back to ‘neutral for winter’  as an impact  on our weather”   and that means Prince George will likely see a normal, typical  winter.