Weekend Outlook: Airport weather isn't Sault weather

I loaded up the November climate records from the Sault airport this morning and was aghast. I searched for how much snow we received this week and found a boring 13cm from Monday to Wednesday.  I spent those three nights on Pim St. earlier this week and watched grader after snowplow after show shovel battle with whiteout heavy snow conditions. I counted over 25cm on Pim St., but when some local weather guru looks up these weather records in 50 years - they will see half that amount.

When it comes to weather records, the Sault airport can be a poor measure of what happens in the city and surrounding areas - especially in the winter. Consider the zone that Environment Canada and Climate Change uses for local forecasts; areas north of the city can be buried in snow, the city can catch squalls for three days, and sunshine can shine all day on St. Joseph Island. Meanwhile, the airport could be a mix of sun and clouds with periodic snow squalls.

The airport certainly isn't reflective of what I argue are at least six different climate zones in this one forecast region.  We have the airport (Prince Township), the city (north to Heyden and east to Garden River), north into Goulais and Batchewana, the Echo Bay/Bar River Valley, Laird Hill to Desbarats, and lonely St. Joseph Island. I could easily forecast different weather each day for these six different areas each day of the winter.

The forecast for the weekend for this Sault region gets a little easier.  Although Echo Bay will have cooler morning lows, and St. Joseph Island will likely see more snow late Sunday.  Overall, we shouldn't see much snow this weekend, and temperatures are moderate to near seasonal values for the start of December.  For the airport? Who knows - but it'll be the location least likely to represent the weather the rest of us experience for the next six months.

Friday will be mostly sunny with a few afternoon sunny breaks as temperatures climb to +1°C. Sunshine early Saturday will give way to increasing cloud cover in the afternoon, with daytime highs of +2°C.

Sunday will be mostly cloudy with temperatures near +1°C. A chance of light snow arrives in the evening and overnight.

Next week, we will see a slight downturn in temperatures, with slightly warmer air arriving for next weekend.