Study suggests fewer chinooks could mean colder Calgary winters
Posted Nov 6, 2026 3:47 pm.
Calgarians may experience fewer chinooks and colder winters in the years ahead, according to new research from the University of Calgary that links changes in the region’s iconic weather pattern to climate change.
The study found that chinooks, the warm, dry winds that sweep eastward over the Rocky Mountains and periodically bring relief from winter cold, are becoming less frequent and bringing less warming.
For many Calgarians, chinooks are a welcome break from winter.
“Chinooks are little things that make things nicer in the winter, for me anyway,” said one resident.
Another said the weather phenomenon offers a chance to enjoy the outdoors during the colder months.
“I do like going outside and being, ‘Oh look at that, nice arch.’ It doesn’t change my life too much, but a nice warm day every so often, it’s fun,” the resident said.
According to John Yackel, a University of Calgary geography professor and lead author of the study, the changes are being driven by warming temperatures in the Arctic.
“The Arctic is warming at a much faster rate than the subtropics, and that causes the winds to become weaker, the jet stream to become wavier, and the manifestation of that is fewer westerly winds from the Rockies in Alberta and that makes for fewer chinooks,” Yackel said.
As chinooks become less common, Yackel said colder northerly winds are expected to replace the warm westerly airflow that traditionally moderates Calgary’s winters. The study projects that winter temperatures associated with these wind patterns could cool by roughly one-third of a degree Celsius per decade.
However, Yackel said the trend may offer some benefits, particularly for agriculture. With fewer chinooks, snowpack is less likely to melt during the winter, helping preserve soil moisture.
“It could be a good thing. It could keep our soil moisture a little bit higher just because we’re keeping the evaporation from happening because we’re keeping the soil moisture a little bit cooler,” he said.
The shift could also benefit operators of outdoor rinks, which often struggle during prolonged warm spells.
Doug Giles, one of the volunteers behind the Braeside outdoor rink, said chinooks significantly disrupted operations last winter.
“About a week after the water restrictions came in, we had our first two chinooks, and we had to put padlocks on the gates for 26 total days where you just couldn’t use the facilities. It was just water,” Giles said.
