International scientists have some bad news for those wondering when global warming will heat up Canadian winters.

Researchers suggest rising temperatures during the other three seasons are actually cooling off winters in North America. That's because of snowfall in Siberia and an atmospheric pressure pattern in high latitudes.

Judah Cohen of the University of Massachusetts says Arctic sea ice is forming later and disappearing earlier.

That shows the northern atmosphere is gradually getting warmer, but at the same time, Siberia is getting heavier and heavier snowfalls.

Cohen theorized the two were linked, that more ice-free water and warmer air in the Arctic leads to more moisture in the northern atmosphere.

Cohen says the pattern of warm springs, summers and falls followed by cold winters is likely to persist. He says it will last until climate change advances to the point where November precipitation in Siberia falls as rain, not snow.

The research paper is published in Environmental Research Letters.