We saw a "green" or "brown" Christmas and Boxing Day, depending on where you are, but the records remain unbroken.
Across southwestern Ontario, temperature highs on both days were milder than usual, but Environment Canada meteorologist Gerald Cheng says records for both Monday and Tuesday were safe in Windsor, Chatham-Kent, and London.
"It was mild, but not as mild as it was in the past," said Cheng. "If we want to break a record...we would have to get up to 15 degrees or so. The record was really high, and we didn't get there."
Windsor's record for Christmas Day was 16.2 degrees in 1982. Cheng also mentioned that London, which typically sees chillier temperatures, set its record in 1982 at 16.3.
In Sarnia, the record high for Christmas Eve is 14.2 degrees and it reached 6.7 in 2023. The all time Christmas Day high is 14.6 degrees and this year it got up to 13.2 degrees.
For Boxing Day, Sarnia's temperature hit a high of 11.3 degrees, just short of the record of 12.9.
Cheng said the culprit is still a warm air flow from our southern neighbours.
"It's really the southerly flow from the States that's pushing a lot of warmer temperatures into southern Ontario in general, and that's why we saw a brown Christmas," said Cheng.
We will continue to see mild temperatures throughout the remainder of the short work week, but Cheng says winter chill will return before the calendar changes to 2024.
"We are on our way down, so Friday, you will see a noticeable change, and the temperature not quite as high," said Cheng. "But Saturday, that's when we'll see more seasonal weather, where the temperature will be closer to zero."
Environment Canada's extended forecast shows that most of southwestern Ontario will see snow showers or flurries on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, with many temperature highs dipping below the freezing mark.
