Study links fewer Calgary chinooks to colder winters ahead, U of C research finds
A University of Calgary study projects colder northerly winds replacing the warm westerly airflow that has long moderated the city's winters.
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Two chinooks arrived about a week after water restrictions took effect last winter, and the Braeside outdoor rink was padlocked for 26 days. Doug Giles, one of the volunteers behind the Braeside outdoor rink, said the warm winds shut the rink down.
A new University of Calgary study projects that chinooks, the warm, dry winds that sweep east over the Rockies and break up winter cold, will become less frequent and bring less warming. John Yackel, a U of C geography professor and the study's lead author, links the shift to the Arctic warming faster than the subtropics. That weakens the winds, makes the jet stream wavier, and means fewer westerly winds from the mountains.
Colder northerly winds would take their place. The study projects winter temperatures tied to those patterns could cool by roughly one-third of a degree Celsius per decade.
Yackel said less snowpack melting in winter could help preserve soil moisture for agriculture.
