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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Your Weekend Weather

By: Doug Speirs

Posted: 11/3/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

As we launch ourselves head-first into the gloom of another November, our feelings about the current weather situation are best summed up by a song from our favourite film, The Wizard of Oz.

We are referring to the song belted out by hordes of Munchkins after Dorothy liquidates the Wicked Witch of the East via the always lethal technique of dropping a house on her. Here is the song as we remember it:

"Ding Dong! The streak is dead. Which old streak? The warm-weather streak. Ding Dong! The warm-weather streak is dead."

As I recall it, that was sung by the coroner of Munchkin City, possibly the sour-faced Lollipop Guild, to signify Oz's weather had taken a turn for the worse after a prolonged period of above-normal temperatures.

Or I may be confusing it with an email I received the other day from my pal Dale Marciski at Environment Canada, who said the weather last month was colder than normal, with a mean temperature (calculated by averaging the highs and lows) of just 4 C, which is below the normal of 5.3 C for a typical October.

What does this mean? Well, according to Dale: "This was the first month since May 2011 which has been colder than normal. In other words, we had 16 straight months, June 2011 to September 2012, where the monthly mean temperatures have been slightly or well above normal."

For the record, October was also the first month since May 2012 that was wetter than normal, with 57.5 millimetres of precipitation, compared with the normal 36 mm of damp stuff. So, there you go, Winnipeg. Our warm spell has had a house dropped on it after a measly 16 consecutive months.

We will have to start a new streak today, wherein we should see a mix of sun and clouds with a high of just 2 C, just under the normal high of 3 C. Sunday looks equally bland with clouds and another high of 2 C.

But, starting Monday, we'll see something we haven't seen in a long time -- it's called "the sun," and according to the weather office, it's nothing to fear. The sun cannot hurt you, Winnipeg, at least not unless you are a vampire or stare directly at it. Tuesday should be a glorious 5 C and sunny.

Forget being warm, kids, let's get out and get funky this weekend, perhaps by unleashing our inner geek at Central Canada Comic Convention, which runs through Sunday at the convention centre. Put on your red pyjamas and say hi to Star Trek: The Next Generation's Sir Patrick Stewart or fawn over Star Wars' Billy Dee Williams until the security guards drag you away.

Or check out the final days of Aboriginal Music Week in Winnipeg, in which awesome acts are playing at various venues. You can find info and tickets at www.aboriginalmusicweek.ca . Also, hit Rumor's Comedy Club Sunday and Monday for Red River College's annual CreCommedy Nights, in which 32 jittery students will hit the stage for laughs... and to earn 30 per cent of their final grade.

Whatever you do, remember to turn the clock back one hour before going to bed Saturday night. Enjoy the extra hour of sleep and stay safe. Because you never know when someone's going to drop a house on you.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 3, 2012 A2

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