Well, summer is now officially over, so it is time to look back at the weather numbers and see just how warm and dry this summer has been. From a climatic or meteorological view, summer is three months long and encompasses the months of June, July and August. Just like winter, summer can be stretched
A warm summer, but not record breaking
Was this summer the warmest in recent memory? Well, that depends how you define ‘summer’
Forecast: Nice long-weekend weather expected
Issued August 27, 2018: Covering the period from August 20 to September 5
It looks like the transition from a summer to a fall weather pattern has begun. This was evident in last week’s forecast, which didn’t quite play out as expected. We did see a rather strong area of low pressure move through our region last weekend, but the forecast timing and track of the system was
Lazy, hazy, smoking days of summer
It would’ve been even hotter over the last couple of weeks without the smoke in the air
This week’s weather article is coming to you from one of my favourite places to camp, Riding Mountain National Park. As I write this the skies are nice and blue, with a yellow sun rising up through the trees. That’s right, blue skies and a yellow sun! The biggest weather story over the last couple
Forecast: Warm with a chance of showers
Issued August 20, 2018: Covering the period from August 22 to August 29
Last week’s forecast played out fairly well, but with a couple of bumps. The first was the thick upper-level smoke that helped to keep temperatures a little cooler than expected, and the second was cooler-than-expected air that moved in behind last weekend’s trough of low pressure. This forecast period will begin with a building ridge
A record-breaking heat wave
It’s not yet clear whether we’re done with these summer hot spells
In the last article we began discussing summer temperatures across the Prairies, and the warm/hot daytime high temperatures we’ve seen since mid-May. It seems like Mother Nature decided to pipe in by bringing one heck of a record-breaking heat wave to the southern and central Prairies from Aug. 10 to 12. Just what brought the
Forecast: Hot, but no more records
Issued August 13, 2018: Covering the period from August 15 to August 23
After a record-breaking heat wave, even warmer-than-average temperatures might feel a little on the cool side. This forecast period will begin with an area of high pressure working its way across the Prairies, bringing mainly sunny skies and a return to warm temperatures. This area of high pressure will slide from Manitoba on Wednesday to
Forecast: The summer of 2018 so far
Let’s take a look at how the weather numbers are adding up in this atypical season
It’s been an interesting summer so far across the Prairies. After a very cold start to spring, summer moved in early, with temperatures across all three Prairie provinces soaring to well-above-average values in May. The question then became whether we’d see the warm temperatures continue into summer or would we see a return of the
Three months of above-average temperatures
A dry month overall, but some areas caught the benefit of showers with useful precipitation
Another month has come and gone and we now find ourselves two-thirds of the way through summer. This means it’s time to take our monthly look back and then ahead, to see if any of the weather models have changed their outlook for the last month of summer. In the last issue I indicated that
Forecast: Warm with the chance of thundershowers
Issued July 30, 2018: Covering the period from August 1 to August 8
Well, it looks as though the cool-down we experienced on a few days during the last forecast period was not the start of a pattern shift towards a cooler period. Instead, we saw temperatures quickly rebound back towards the 30° mark, continuing our warmer-than-average summer. Wednesday and Thursday of this week look to be sunny
More on severe summer weather: Hail
You don't necessarily need a really tall thunderstorm to get the really big hailstones
Time to continue our series of articles on different types of severe summer weather. I like to re-examine these topics every year or two due to the importance of understanding the different types of severe weather, and also because most people find this aspect of weather so fascinating. In this issue we are going to