Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says the cold, wet weather in Sask. so far this summer is a return to past trends after hot, dry conditions in recent years.
Saskatchewan has had more rain and cooler temperatures so far this year, but Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says things are simply returning to normal after consecutive years of hot, dry conditions in June.
“We’re back to the way it’s supposed to be,” said Terri Lang, a meteorologist with ECCC.
The past several years have seen hot and dry springs with below average rainfall. This year, however, June was generally a better month for rainfall across the province, with warmer temperatures on the way.
Despite a kind of “recency bias” amongst people regarding the weather, Lang said data shows this year is not an aberration.
“This return to actually getting showers, thunder showers, moisture, that type of thing — this is what’s supposed to be happening,” she said on Wednesday morning. “June is our wettest month of the year.”
There have been pockets in the province with heavier precipitation, which can be too much of a good thing. Lang said this is fairly normal for the province, though she deferred questions to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada about how it could affect growing conditions.
One point of reference for Lang regarding the cool, wet conditions has been a relative lack of forest fires this year after smoke blanketed the province in previous summers.
“I think today is the first time I actually could see that there was smoke in the atmosphere,” said Lang. “It’s a big difference between this year and last year.”
With that return to normal also comes more storms, thunder showers and funnel clouds. ECCC does not track how many funnel clouds form in any given year, opting instead to record how may actually touch down.
Lang said in 2023 one tornado touched down in Saskatchewan.
“We’ve never had a year that slow,” she noted, adding that this year “we’re pretty much on par for a busier severe weather season. Nothing outrageous, just a return to a normal severe weather situation.”
Due to wet conditions early in the year, rain seeps into the soil and helps crops grow, but that also leads to crops giving off a “tremendous amount of moisture, called evapotranspiration,” which fuels storms.
Evaporation from crops is also sometimes called “corn sweat” or “storm juice,” said Lang.
“Wet begets wet,” she added.
Despite multiple weather warnings in recent weeks, ECCC has not yet confirmed that any tornadoes have touched down in Saskatchewan. The organization is aware of a storm that went through Carrot River, though it was believed to be a plough wind.
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