The capricious start to the winter season has already seen dramatic temperature swings across much of Canada, with energy grid-disrupting cold snaps giving way to an ice-thawing warm spell.
A controversial theory linking climate change to Arctic cold snaps, explained toronto.citynews.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from toronto.citynews.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Scientists agree on how climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, is altering winter globally - the season is getting warmer and shorter, studies suggest the snowpack is thinning out earlier across large parts of Southern Canada, and the Far North is warming faster than the rest of the world. Cold snaps, like the one felt across the country earlier this month, are not changing those overall trends, scientists say. But there is a controversial idea that suggests rapid warming in the Far North could actually be linked to outbreaks of Arctic air.
The capricious start to the winter season has already seen dramatic temperature swings across much of Canada, with energy grid-disrupting cold snaps giving way to an ice-thawing warm spell.