MANITOULIN—January has been the pits. The warm weather has caused all the snow and ice to melt away, cancelling winter fun and to top it all off, Manitoulin has been under the cover of clouds—for a very long time.
On Friday, January 27, Mark Schuster, Environment Canada meteorologist, looked through the past couple of weeks of satellite imagery for Manitoulin at this newspaper’s request and noted that the world’s largest freshwater island has not seen the sun since January 16—that’s nearing two weeks!
“It’s been a pretty depressing month,” Mr. Schuster admits, adding that the cloud cover has kept almost the entire province devoid of sun.
Mr. Schuster said “there will be a weak little ridge of high pressure’ moving into the area on Sunday, which could mean some sun late Sunday or early Monday, so “we could have a little more cheerful Monday morning.”
The meteorologist also noted that Manitoulin’s average temperature for this time of year is –6°C but the Island is expected to see below average temperatures this coming week with –9°C on Monday. An Alberta clipper is expected to move into the area south of Manitoulin by Tuesday, bringing with it significant amounts of snowfall. Manitoulin is on the very edge of the clipper so far, according to Mr. Schuster, and could expect some of the snow on Tuesday.
In the meantime, bring on the sun!
