Almost every year around this time the weather discussion turns to the topic of “Indian summer.” Whether this term is politically correct or not, and I know I have discussed this topic in the past, I think that revisiting this topic every couple of years is useful to help break down some of the misconceptions
Arguably the best time of the year
Some might suggest early last November was a late Indian summer, but was it really?
Forecast: Mild conditions expected to dominate
Issued October 9, 2017: Covering the period from October 11 to October 18
The first half of last week’s forecast played out as expected. Fortunately, the second half didn’t materialize, thanks to a northward shift in the overall pattern. Spring and fall tend to be the toughest times to forecast the weather as the atmosphere begins its transition between summer and winter weather patterns, and we saw this
Another growing season comes to an end
A dry summer generally left workable soils, even after September’s wet second half
Another month has come and gone and it’s time to look back at our weather so far this fall. To start off, we saw the end of the growing season across most regions last week, as temperatures fell just below freezing last Thursday morning. I know at my place the thermometer measured an overnight low
Forecast: Big change in the weather coming next week?
Issued October 3, 2017: Covering the period from October 4 to October 11
Last week’s forecast played out pretty close to what weather models predicted. The biggest differences were the widespread light frost on Thursday morning and the showers/light rain last Sunday afternoon over eastern regions. This forecast period will begin with seasonably cool conditions as a weak high pressure builds in from the west behind a departing
Fall frosts and the frost-free season
The number on your thermometer may not accurately reflect what’s happening on the ground
Every year around this time the weather discussion starts to centre around the first fall frost. Some years, when we see an early-fall frost, the topic is at the forefront of conversations. This year, with only a couple of locations experiencing a fall frost as of Sept. 25, there hasn’t been much discussion. The first
Forecast: Mild and dry weather returns
Issued September 25, 2017: Covering the period from September 27 to October 4
Over the last week or so we saw our first period of unsettled wet weather in a long time. The forecasted system brought some late-season thunderstorms to several regions late last Friday. We then saw another area of light rainfall move through on Sunday. This second system was forecast to stay well to our south,
Forecast: Expect more unsettled but mild weather
Issued September 18, 2017: Covering the period from September 20 to 27
The first part of last week’s forecast played out fairly close to what the weather models predicted. The main area of low pressure and the associated rainfall moved through our region late last Friday. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your perspective, the main rainfall stayed to our south and east, with most areas seeing between
A summer of average temperatures
Manitoba also saw a low number of significantly heavy rain events this summer
As we hit the second full week of September there has been another Category 4 hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland; this time it was hurricane Irma. Irma made landfall near Marco Island, Florida early on Sept. 10. While the damage inflicted by Irma looks to be significant, the storm will not bring the torrential
Forecast: Continued warm, but wetter
Issued September 11, 2017: Covering the period from September 13 to 20
The weather models were surprisingly accurate over the last week or two, thanks in part to a fairly persistent ridge of high pressure. For this forecast period it looks like we will see a shift in our overall weather pattern. The question is whether this will be a temporary shift or a more permanent one.
Forecast: Little taste of fall, then back to summer
Issued September 1, 2017: Covering the period from September 6 to 13
Last week’s forecast played out pretty close to what the weather models had predicted. For this forecast period, confidence levels are not very high due to an earlier-than-usual deadline because of the long weekend. That said, the weather models have been fairly consistent with their predictions over the last couple of days, with only the