Pattern trying to transition to winter

Issued: Monday, Nov. 3, 2014 – Covering: Nov. 5 – Nov. 12, 2014

Last week’s Arctic high built in as expected, but brought slightly cooler temperatures than expected, with overnight lows dropping into the minus teens late last week. The strong area of low pressure also developed to our west as predicted, but fortunately for us, it took a more northerly route and brought nice mild weather to

Above-average temperatures should continue

Issued: Monday, Oct. 27, 2014 – Covering: Oct. 29 – Nov. 5, 2014

As usual for this time of the year, small changes in the way weather systems move can have a big impact on our weather. Last week’s forecast indicated an area of low pressure would develop to our west and bring nice mild conditions. Not surprisingly, this low now looks like it will take a more


Weather models point to a fall heat wave

Issued: Monday, Oct. 13, 2014 – Covering: Oct. 15 - Oct. 22, 2014

The long weekend turned out to be a little nicer than expected as the large Pacific low ended up staying off shore, with only a few pieces of energy moving through our region. Overall, the forecast for the next couple of weeks looks to be pretty good. Confidence is actually fairly high as the weather

This map shows the total amount of precipitation that has fallen across the Prairies during the 30 days ending Aug. 25, as a percentage of the average expected for this period. This map seems to be a continuation of the maps we’ve seen so far this summer, with above-average amounts of rain over southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and western Manitoba and below-average amounts over northern Alberta.

Late summer/early fall weather

Issued: Monday, September 1, 2014 · Covering: September 3 – September 10, 2014

Last week’s weather ended up following its own rules as a relatively fast-flowing pattern developed across our region, bringing with it rapidly changing weather conditions. For this forecast period it looks like this weather pattern will persist. High pressure that started off this week will quickly be replaced by an area of low pressure that


This map shows the total amount of precipitation that has fallen across the Prairies during the 60 days ending Aug. 18. Southern and northern parts of Alberta have been fairly dry, with large areas seeing fewer than 50 mm of rain during this period. Northern and eastern parts of agricultural Saskatchewan and western Manitoba were fairly wet during this period, with a number of locations reporting 200 mm or more.

Mixed bag for long weekend

Things definitely got interesting last weekend as we saw yet another unusually strong area of low pressure affect our region. The low moved a little slower than first forecast and it also tracked a little farther west, but all in all it made for a fairly wet weekend. This forecast period begins with a ridge

This map shows the total amount of precipitation that has fallen across the Prairies compared to historical averages over the 30 days ending Aug. 7. You can see just how dry it’s been across nearly all of agricultural Manitoba during this period; the only wet area was around The Pas. Farther west, much of northern and western Saskatchewan was wetter than average, as was east-central Alberta.

Off to a warm and dry start

Forecast issued Aug. 11, 2014, covering the period from Aug. 13 to 20, 2014

Only problem with last week’s forecast was that we saw two cold fronts move through last weekend instead of just one. The first moved through Saturday, bringing a few quick-moving thunderstorms. The second moved through on Sunday, bringing scattered clouds, the odd shower and cooler temperatures. Hopefully the forecast for this week will be as


This map shows the total amount of precipitation that fell across the Prairies during the 30 days ending July 31 — only one day shy of the monthly total. Most of agricultural Manitoba was fairly dry during this period, with most areas seeing less than 40 mm. Extreme southeastern and northwestern areas were a little wetter. The wettest parts of the Prairies were over northern agricultural Saskatchewan and northeastern Alberta, especially around Edmonton, where an upper low brought large amounts of rain.

High pressure and plenty of sunshine

Forecast issued Aug. 4, 2014, covering the period from Aug. 6 to 13, 2014

Last week’s forecast worked out pretty much as expected. The weak system anticipated to move through late in the weekend was a little quicker than expected and as a result, less cool air was pulled in behind the system. This gave us warmer weather over the last part of the long weekend. This forecast period

Usually we look at a map that has to do with precipitation, but I thought I would take a break from those maps and look at a map that shows the global temperature anomalies as determined by NOAA for the month of June. Looking at the map, the red-shaded regions saw above-average temperatures while those areas in blue were below average. As you can see, most of the map is red. June 2014 was the warmest June on record, according to NOAA.

A warm and sunny forecast

A boring forecast can be a good thing

It’s been awhile, but it finally looks like we’ll see a prolonged period of dry, warm summer weather. After yet another stronger-than-usual upper low moved across the Prairies last weekend, it looks as if our region will be stuck right in the middle of a blocking pattern. Two stationary areas of low pressure are expected


This map shows the total precipitation across the Prairies so far this growing season compared to the long-term average. Most of the Prairies have seen average to well-above-average amounts, with the wettest areas located in a northwest swath from Brandon to just west of Saskatoon.

Unsettled weekend but heat building in next week

Issued: Monday, July 21, 2014 · Covering: July 23 – July 30, 2014

The first half of last week’s forecast was pretty much spot on, as the forecasted trough of low pressure moved through our region last weekend bringing with it a mix of sun, clouds, warm temperatures and a few showers and thundershowers. For the first part of this forecast period high pressure looks to dominate, bringing

weather map of the Canadian prairies

Slight chance of thundershowers

Issued: Monday, July 14, 2014 - Covering: July 16 – July 23, 2014

It just seems to be that kind of year. We saw yet another upper low drop into our region last weekend, bringing with it some record-cold temperatures on Sunday. Winnipeg’s official high temperature on July 13 was 15.7 C, which easily broke the previous record for the lowest daily high of 16.7 C, set back