Winter Warmest Ever on Record in Canada

TORONTO - The winter of 2005-2006 has been Canada's warmest on record and the federal agency Environment Canada said Monday it was investigating whether it's a sign of global warming.

Between December and February, the country was 3.9 degrees above normal — the warmest winter season since temperatures were first recorded in 1948. Environment Canada climatologist Bob Whitewood said it smashed the previous record set in 1987 by 0.9 degrees.

"We saw it coming from mid-January on that we were seeing something quite remarkable," Whitewood said.

The experience has been similar south of the border where the U.S. National Climatic Data Center said the winter has been the fifth warmest on record. December through February are considered meteorological winter.