Mild Christmas weather expected

No worries about having a white Christmas.
That's a virtual guarantee for Prince George and most of the province, which should make it easier for the big guy and his reindeer to land their sleigh tonight.
The weather for the Central Interior is going to be a breeze for the next week with mild temperatures and mostly dry conditions. Tonight's low is expected to dip to -11 C under partly cloudy skies, heading for a high of -6 C on Christmas Day, with the low reaching -12 C.
"We're expecting conditions to be pretty close to the average high, which is minus-five, so two days of average weather, but then we're getting into a westerly flow pattern, really mild," said Environment Canada meteorologist Doug Lundquist. "For the rest of the week you're going to be like the Okanagan."
The high and low on Boxing Day will fluctuate by only one degree, with high of 0 C expected and an a low of -1 C. A similar forecast is in store for Friday, temperature-wise, with a high of 2 C and a low of -2 C, which will likely melt and compact some of the 15 centimetres of snow already in the ground. But there will be some wet snow Friday night and into Saturday with accumulations of close to five centimetres - good news for skiers and tobogganers. The north coast, southwest valleys and parts of the Kootenays are the only regions of the province not covered in snow.
"There could also be some rain in there and some snow mixed, so we might start to get into a bit of wetter pattern as early as (Friday), heading into New Year's Eve," said Lundquist. "Saturday will have periods of snow and Monday a chance of flurries but I wouldn't be surprised if it's wet at times, and mixed sometimes with rain, particularly down the valley towards Quesnel.
"It's going to be warm up till New Year's Eve and the longer-range outlook is for that warm weather to continue and perhaps even get warmer yet at the beginning of January."
This time last year the weather was much the same with Christmas week highs ranging from -3.7 - +3.7 C and lows no colder than -12 C. Looking at the last 90 days, Prince George was a bit colder than normal October but had a warmer-than-normal-average November and December, with normal amounts of precipitation all three months. The past 30 days have been almost one degree above average with half of the average precipitation.
"Last year we made it through winter and then we got blasted in February, so let's not count our chickens till the eggs hatch," said Lundquist, from his office in Kelowna.
Although the calendar says winter starts Dec. 21 with the solstice, meteorologists consider Dec. 1 the start of the new season, and that means spring begins March 1.
"The days are getting longer already and we don't have much winter left," he said. "In your area, by early March it usually starts to feel spring-like."