It's certainly been fairly warm in Airdrie and Southern Alberta recently, but how long can you expect that to continue?

According to Environment Canada, the recent warming trend has been a bit odd for this time of the year.

"It has been a kind of really unusual first start to the winter for people in much of Southern Alberta," says Meteorologist Brian Proctor, "We had some pretty cool air to start off the month of November but the last half of November was significantly warmer and that warm sort of spell has spilled into December and really spilled in with a vengeance."

Right now, the forecast in Airdrie over the next few days is calling for warmer temperatures, some as high as 10 degrees.

Proctor says that it looks like the milder temperatures could stay till close to Christmas time, as a ridge of high pressure continues to pass through parts of B.C. and Southern Alberta.

At the moment though, it's too early to tell if it means a colder or milder January for Airdrie.

"At this point, we really don't have a definitive answer to that," says Proctor, "We're looking at staying fairly mild through the approach to Christmas and maybe starting to retreat a little bit more towards normal as we get closer to Christmas but really no significant sort of signature or signal in the atmosphere at this time."

This winter was supposed to bring La Nina conditions for most of the province, but Proctor says that system is coming in much weaker than anticipated.

While the warm weather is nice right now, Proctor says that with overnight lows still dropping below freezing, sidewalks and driveways are very slippery with the ice that's remaining.

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