Green Christmas? Ottawa breaks 130-year-old heat record

With the daytime temperature reaching 6 C in Ottawa on Monday, today is the warmest Dec. 18 in over 130 years.

The temperature reached a high of 5.9 C at 10 a.m. in Ottawa.

Environment Canada's historical averages show the city beat the previous record of 5.6 C recorded in 1895 and 1921.

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That makes it the highest temperature since record keeping began in 1938 at Ottawa's international airport and between 1889 and 1938 at the Central Experimental Farm.

The average temperature for Dec. 18 is a high of minus 3.6 C and a low of minus 11.8 C.

"It seems more tropical than polar, that's for sure," said Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips in an interview with CTV News Ottawa. 

Environment Canada has predicted El Niño conditions will bring milder temperatures to the Capital leading up to the holiday season. El Niño is a climate pattern that describes a warming of the ocean surface, which can create higher than average temperatures.

The last El Niño year in Canada was in 2015-2016, which was a milder winter with slightly above normal precipitation.

Less snow is expected in southern Ontario and southern Quebec leading up to the holidays, but Environment Canada says a small deviation in the storm track could mean a more active weather pattern.

About ten to 20 mm of rain is expected to fall today with conditions improving going into Christmas weekend. Phillips suspects Ottawa could also see some snow, but not very much.

"Kind of teasing you, in a way. I mean, this is about what you need for a white Christmas and I think that's probably on peoples minds," he said.

Environment Canada has no prediction for Christmas Day yet, but Christmas Eve is showing a mix of sun and clouds with a high of minus 3 C.

"To make it a white Christmas, you need two centimetres of snow sitting on the ground in Ottawa or Kanata or wherever you are, and if you get that, hey, you have a white Christmas," said Phillips. "Last year, boy, you had one in abundance; 44 centimetres of snow sitting on the ground before Christmas. It was a done deal, clearly too much snow... so my sense is you gotta look at it a little bit differently. It would be nice to have that white cover, but then if it makes you stay in like it did last year, then it may not be a good thing."

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Tyler Fleming.