Normal La Nina weather conditions are expected for the remainder of winter, according to the director of weather and market analysis with the CWB.

"One of the most common questions I've been receiving is 'why is the La Nina this year so different from last year?'," says Bruce Burnett. "It's been almost exactly the opposite conditions between the two years. Last year we were cold and snowy for most of the winter, and this year it's been a lot milder with very little precipitation."

Burnett says Arctic Oscillation is the main reason La Nina has given the prairies the cold - or rather, warm - shoulder this winter.

"It's basically kept the cold air and storm track up in the higher latitudes, rather than allowing that cold air to dip down into the prairie region," he says.

He says we'll likely see more typical La Nina conditions for the rest of the season.

"We did see the Arctic Oscillation break down. It was at record levels in December, and now it's almost neutral," says Burnett. "The expectation would be that we would probably see more typical weather conditions. Probably not enough moisture to catch up for the deficit, but it does help the odds of us getting some moisture before we hit the fields in the spring."

La Nina is expected to wind down in May or June.