How mild was Windsor's winter? Environment Canada says it broke a record

Windsor's broken another temperature record: This one for the warmest winter on record.

According to Environment Canada, the average mean temperature — a combination of both the daily highs and overnight lows for December, January and February — was 1.4 C.

That breaks a record of 1.3 C recorded in 2015-16.

"Generally speaking, we are expecting the spring to continue this trend of above seasonal throughout the full months of March, April, May, the meteorological spring," said Steven Flisfeder, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.

It's not unexpected, he said: Windsor has had several record-breaking temperature days this winter, even breaking an all-time hottest temperature for the month of February.

But Flisfeder says the region's overnight low temperatures have been warmer than usual as well — the average was 1.9 C, tied for the warmest on record in 1997-98.

All of that said, Flisfeder says it's not a surprise Windsor had a warmer winter. El Niño is part of the cause, he said, as is climate change.

It was busier than usual at Spee-Dee Auto Wash on Langlois Ave., on an unseasonably warm February afternoon, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. (Dax Melmer/CBC)

"We can't fully attribute it to one or the other. Attribution studies are done to determine how strong of an impact climate change has had," he said. "But definitely being an El Niño winter has added to the effects of climate change for this winter in particular."

Mike McKay is the director of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research. He says they've been studying the Great Lakes for years, including during the winter and in low-ice years.

With warmer than normal temperatures, McKay says ice cover on the lakes is low — about four per cent at the end of February during typical peak ice time.

"We've seen in the last five years, three of the winters have been mainly ice free in the lower lakes," McKay said, singling out 2020, 2023 and 2024.

"Some might think, 'well, no ice. What's what's the worry?' Ice cover provides protection to our shorelines," he said. "People living in Windsor-Essex, along the Lake Erie shoreline, have seen bluffs eroding. We've seen loss of infrastructure, even roadways caving in because of the erosion."

McKay also pointed to economies that are helped by the winter recreation, like ice fishing in Mitchell's Bay, that see that impacted by warm winters.

"We also have some ecosystem effects ... we see pretty big changes in the lower food web from the ice-covered condition to the ice-free condition," he said.

"What that means in the future, I don't know. We know that the Great Lakes are very resilient and they bounce back from the challenges that humans place on them. But it's likely a new normal."

At the Essex Region Conservation Authority, CAO Tim Byrne says their teams have been out doing some survey work earlier than normal because of the warm, dry temperatures.

Rakeim Cain shoots hoops at Optimist Memorial Park on an unseasonably warm February afternoon, Monday, Feb. 26, 2024. (Dax Melmer/CBC)

But he warms of the possibility of a frost that could kill plants that bloom early and harm animals that hibernate.

Byrne also said unpredictable weather makes it more difficult for ERCA to carry out one of its chief responsibilities: Flood monitoring, because of the unpredictable amount of snow or rain and ground frost.

But while Wednesday reached 20 C, Flisfeder warned that its not all warm weather ahead.

"Having said that, we are anticipating a bit of a cool down in the coming days," he said. "Not by too much, but when you contrast it with the warmth we've been experiencing, it will feel much colder than it has been."