Warmer weather sticking around in Windsor

Warmer weather hit Windsor over the weekend, and residents are liking it.

"It's fantastic," said Patrick Dunn, who was with his wife and their dog, Nico. "That's why we're out to take the dog for a walk and we're enjoying it."

Daruisz Siadlakowski and his wife were also taking in the nice weather at the riverfront.

"I think we're lucky," Siadlakowski said. "It's unusual, but it's beautiful."

Even tourists are enjoying the unexpectedly warm weather.

"It doesn't feel like fall in Michigan," said Detroit resident Rahim Ahad, who was with his partner Fahima Chowdhury. "Usually when it's fall, it means it's going to be rainy and cold. But over here, it's looking pretty nice."

"People say Canada is like an ice cap, but it's not looking like an ice cap today."

The warmer weather looks like it's here to stay, at least for a little while.

Gerald Cheng, a meteorologist for Environment Canada, said warmer temperatures are expected to last until at least next weekend.

"We're talking about temperatures into the low 20s possibly," he said. "This is quite above normal because when we talk about normal temperatures, we are usually looking at 10 degrees as the high for the Windsor area and right now, we're talking about temperatures doubling that."

Saturday saw a record high temperature of 22.6 C. Environment Canada told CBC News the previous record for Nov. 5 was 22.2 C, which was set in 2015.

Cheng said a high pressure system pushing a subtle flow from the Gulf of Mexico is what's causing the higher temperatures. This is also causing temperatures to rise elsewhere.

"Temperatures are also in the mid-teens in Sudbury and North Bay, so that's quite spectacular," he said. "This is not just affecting people in southwestern Ontario, but also across eastern Canada and half of the U.S."

Temperatures are expected to cool slightly next week, with Cheng calling for midweek highs in the mid-teens and seasonal temperatures returning this weekend.

Time change the unofficial start to winter

Clocks went back an hour early Sunday morning. The change back to eastern standard time is occasionally associated with the beginning of the winter season.

The warm weather suggests otherwise.

Cheng said warmer temperatures can be expected throughout the winter.

"For the months of November, December and January, there is a strong signal that it is going to be above normal," he said. "It's not going to be above normal every day, it's just the average. So within these three months there could still be peaks and valleys and there will be valleys for sure."

Siadlakowski is pleased that this might be the case.

"We won't have to spend too much on heating our house," he said.

Dunn isn't too bothered about how bad winters can be and is taking what Cheng says with a grain of salt.

"You hear contradicting messages like, 'We're going to have a lot of snow this year, we're not going to have any snow, etc,'" Dunn said. "I love shoveling snow so I don't mind if we get a lot of snow."

Even though she lives in Michigan, Chowdhury is not surprised that a milder winter is expected, using last year's patterns as her reasoning.

"We got our first snowfall at the end of November and it melted right away," she said. "We didn't get a good heavy snowfall until January and then it all tracked back into April. I feel like that's like the pattern we're going to adhere to."