The month of November was milder than normal in southern Manitoba. And, Environment Canada is forecasting that trend will continue this winter.

Senior Climatologist David Phillips says they are calling for the winter months of December, January and February to be above average in terms of temperature. However, he says just because we are experiencing a Super El Nino, that doesn't mean winter will be cancelled.

The month of November saw an average daily high of +3.4 degrees, when the normal daily high is +1.4 degrees. The average daily low was -4.5 degrees, when the normal daily low is -8.4 degrees. The average temperature last month was -0.4 degrees, compared to the normal of -3.5 degrees. There were 8 freeze days in fall, which are days when the maximum temperature does not exceed zero, compared to 19 or 20, which is what we had last year before December. And finally, the mercury has yet to dip below -20 degrees this year, whereas by this time last year that mark had been reached at least half a dozen times already.

Phillips says they knew all along that the impact of El Nino would start to be felt in southern Manitoba in November. He notes before reaching Canada it already left its mark on the rest of the world in the form of floods, drought, forest fires and land slides. And Phillips says it is certainly now being felt here too. In fact, he says a few days this week could see daytime highs above freezing, when the normal high for this time of year is -5 degrees.

"Wall to wall Manitoba sunshine from the beginning to the end of the week," says Phillips. "No threatening weather at all."

But again, just because we are under the influence of an El Nino, that doesn't mean Colorado Lows or Alberta Clippers won't hit us this year.

"Don't blame me if you get a cold day with some tough snow and a freezing numbing wind chill, those occur even in balmy El Nino winters," explains Phillips.

He says this winter will probably be like a Yoyo where we could have a week like this where temperatures are above the freezing mark. Then the next week could be really cold, followed by another week of melting.

As for precipitation, Phillips cautions a Super El Nino doesn't always mean less precipitation. In the previous seven Super El Ninos, two of them had more snow than normal, one winter had an average amount and four winters saw below average snowfall.