Despite Pekisko Pete's recent prediction of an early spring, Foothills residents can expect the ice and snow to linger for a couple of months.

Brian Proctor, Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, says winter is far from over in the prairies.

"We just finished taking a good look at our prognosticators, that are furry and four-legged, may be a little bit wrong at this point in time," he says.

Proctor says the western provinces will likely remain frigid over the next little while.

"I hope I'm wrong, but at this point in time, it doesn't look that way," he adds. "Judging from what we typically see this time of year, we probably would see more than six weeks of winter anyways,"

In the coming days, he says the region will experience significant snowfall on top of the arctic lows.

"The pattern is not really changing until we get into early to mid next week, so we should be looking at getting some significant snowfalls over the weekend and early into Monday as well," he says.

Although spring is still many weeks away, Proctor says residents who are fed up with winter's whip should get comfortable with the idea that the cold isn't going anywhere for the time being.

"In Alberta, we have to be well aware of the fact thast we probably still have 8 or 9 weeks of winter still coming,"

 

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