(Britton Gray/980 CJME)

By Britton Gray

Easter expected to be colder than normal: Environment Canada

Apr 9, 2020 | 10:23 AM

The weather won’t provide people with a reason to go outside this Easter weekend for the most part.

The normal high temperature for this time of year is around 10 C and while Good Friday will be near that, the mercury is set to dip after that.

“It looks like a pretty cold Easter across all of the west. We’re seeing a cold front that is coming down. That arctic air under a ridge is just going to build across the prairies and bring colder conditions,” Environment Canada’s David Phillips said on Thursday’s Greg Morgan Morning Show.

“I mean Easter bonnets are going to be balaclavas and toques.”

But in the current state of social distancing due to COVID-19, Phillips said the weather kind of fits into the mood across the country.

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“If it was just very warm and muscle-shirt and tank-top (kind of weather), well, we’d be (outside) and that wouldn’t be good. Maybe it’s great shut-in kind of weather,” Phillips said.

The colder temperatures have been the story of April so far. Phillips said during the winter, four of the months had warmer-than-normal temperatures.

“April has really turned on us,” he said. “We’ve seen one of the coolest beginnings to April. I think the first week in April is one of the coldest in 50 years.”

And that trend is expected to continue.

“Our 10-day forecast (and) our rest of the April is expected to be cooler than normal,” Phillips said.

Farmers could soon be heading out into the fields as the weather eventually gets warmer. Phillips said the good news and bad news for farmers was that there wasn’t a lot of snow throughout the winter in Saskatchewan.

“The amount of winter precipitation is about half of what you normally get. Any kind of snow that you get now is often a blessing and not a curse,” Phillips said. “I think no flood season is good news and (farmers) will be able to get on their land as long as the soil temperatures begin to rocket up.”