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By Jaryn Vecchio

Warm And Dry Summer

Northern Saskatchewan communities experience one of the hottest & driest summers on record

Sep 22, 2021 | 3:27 PM

The last three months were some of the warmest ever recorded for northern Saskatchewan.

That’s according to Terri Lang, Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, who said Prince Albert experienced its fifth warmest summer, Meadow Lake its fourth, while La Ronge had their hottest ever.

This accounts for every day in June, July, and August as the organization doesn’t follow the astronomical calendar, which had summer lasting from June 20 to September 22, as it can change by a couple of hours or multiple days every year.

Specifically for P.A., they averaged around 18.2 Celcius over the three months.

The last time the community experienced this high of an average temperature was in 1991, while the hottest recorded levels were in 1919 and 1937.

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Despite many communities having below-average summers the last few years, Lang notes it’s not unusual to have a big jump year-over-year.

“We’re in a place where the changes can be really pronounced because we don’t have any water anywhere close to us and water moderates temperatures.”

The last three months were also one of the driest across northern Saskatchewan.

Meadow Lake had its second-worst summer on record with the only year worse being 1937.

P.A. also experienced very little rain, coming in as the 28th driest in the community’s history.

The entire province of Saskatchewan experienced one of its worst droughts with Lang noting the south was particularly hit hard.

Cattle ranchers and farmers have spoken out throughout the summer as the warm, dry temperatures have caused some to have trouble providing water for animals and growing their crops.

As for the fall, which started on Sept. 22, according to the astronomical calendar and Sept. 1 for Environment and Climate Change Canada, many areas across the northern part of the province should see some more rain than usual.

“It’s been pretty dry so far, so that’s already cut into that, but we’ll see how that pans out as our fall develops,” Lang said.

This does not mean we’re going to get a lot of snow during the fall as rain is usually the main culprit for higher precipitation projections.

Lang adds it’s also quite hard to properly guess the amount of precipitation as storms can come out of nowhere and throw off their estimates.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow