Yes it may be summer but in a blink of an eye we'll soon be talking about the inevitable that is a cold winter.

Luckily for the Foothills a large El Niño effect lead to one of the warmest winters in recent history but the chances of that repeating are slim thanks to a developing La Niña weather pattern.

Meteorologist at Environment Canada Kirk Thorneby says expect a hard dose of old man winter this season.

"La Niña for Western Canada usually means colder than normal winters and a tendency towards higher than normal precipitation for the area as well," he says. "Usually following a strong El Nino we see a La Niña condition develop."

Thorneby says expect more snow to shovel this coming winter, but the amount remains unknown in the year to get a strong reading on how much will actually fall.

"They can last 1-3 years but it's too early to say how long this La Niña will last but generally La Niña impact are usually in the south during the winter and spring months so we'll really see them develop and have an impact on our winter through December and January."

Going back in the record books of a warm winter followed by an even colder one Thorneby says it's been almost 20 years since the same weather pattern has appeared.

"One that comes to mind following the last big El Niño event which was 1997-1998 and then following that we had La Niña conditions in which we saw conditions that were a lot cooler and a lot snowier than normal."