Why are storms missing us?
Four winter storms that hit Atlantic Canada within a week took it easy on Queens County.
Well known for his winter weather predictions, Fred Giffin of Liverpool explains why the storms passed by some of Southwest Nova Scotia.
The latest storm, which hit Atlantic Canada Jan. 2 dropped 35 centimetres of snow in New Brunswick and over 20 centimetres in Charlottetown P.E.I.
Deer Lake, N.L. had more than 26 centimetres of snow.
Giffin says the storms have been passing through the Bay of Fundy or the Southwestern end, with the centres basically passing over Nova Scotia.
“As this occurs, a strong southeast wind pulls moist, mild air from the ocean providing the source of precipitation,” says Giffin.
He says the stronger the wind is, the further the precipitation will travel.
The wind circulating counterclockwise around the centres come from the Northeast in Eastern New Brunswick, Northern Nova Scotia and P.E.I. he says, which is enhanced by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and cold air from Labrador.
“This is the ideal condition for the blizzard-like snowstorms they have been receiving,” he explains.
If the centre of the storms were another 100 kilometres further south, the storm would have hit harder in Queens County, he says.
Giffin uses history trends and correlations along with studying what is going on in the world to make his weather predictions from Dec. 1 to the end of March.
He has predicted this winter will be colder than normal with above average snowfall.
Giffin says Queens County probably had as much precipitation as Moncton, New Brunswick for the month of December, with the difference being Queens County received more rain while Moncton received snow.
The Weather Network is predicting near normal temperatures with above normal precipitation across the Atlantic Provinces.
However, the network is also predicting near normal precipitation for the southern tip of Nova Scotia.
Giffin says the month of December was colder than average in Liverpool.
The average temperature is -1.5 degrees but he says it was probably a degree colder than that.
Last year the temperature in Liverpool was three degrees above average for December, he adds.
by Leanne Delong/The Advance 
