Canada's Uncold January

So this is what's happening to Europe:

Canadians catch break from winter's worst
By COLIN FREEZE
Saturday, January 28, 2006 Posted at 10:18 AM EST
Globe and Mail Update
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Most Canadian cities are seeing temperatures that are way above normal. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the Prairies, where one cold capital -- known, until recently, as "Winterpeg, Manisnowba" to many -- is fully 10 degrees warmer than usual.
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Not that many people are complaining. Given high oil prices, the weather has pleasantly surprised a lot of homeowners.

So what exactly is going on?

Laymen may be tempted to attribute the phenomenon to global warming, but if climate change was as rapid as all that, Canadians would be planting citrus groves in five years and living in deserts within a few generations. "This may be a dry run, a dress rehearsal, of what winters might be like in the future," Mr. Phillips said. "But we can't say that this is the beginning of the permanent change."
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A polar vortex that usually resides around Hudson's Bay this time of year has decided to linger in Northern Europe instead. That's good news for people in Canada and bad news for people in Russia, who are freezing. "It's like a Sumo wrestler: You just can't kick it out," Mr. Phillips said.

Usually we in the U.S.A. get visited by a couple of "polar air masses" during the winter. It seems that Europe has a visitor that overstayed its welcome.

Since computer models that predict global warming from a greenhouse effect show most of the warming happening in places like Canada and Siberia, I wonder if the Canadians will think about the benefit to them if global warming models accurately predict future climate. Is this "uncold" January really all that bad for them?

Did anyone else notice the surname of the reporter assigned to do this article?