Reading Time: 3 minutes It's not just hail, thunderstorms and tornadoes, rainfall and humidity are potentially severe summer weather too.
Rainfall and humidity are potentially severe weather too
Prairie forecast: Warm but unsettled weather
Forecast issued Aug. 21, covering Aug. 21 to 28, 2024
Last week's forecast got off to a rough start. The area of low pressure that pushed through the eastern Prairies ended up as a large upper level low. Because those are slow to move out, they can affect systems trying to move east by backing them up or forcing them to take a different path. So, while the overall pressure pattern across the Prairies was still slack as forecasted, the details got all messed up.
Prairie forecast: Weak systems make for tricky forecast
Forecast issued Aug. 14, covering Aug. 14 to 21, 2024
The slack or weak pattern looks to continue into much of next week, which makes it difficult to pinpoint which areas could see showers or thunderstorms, and on which days. Best chances for precipitation look to be over the eastern Prairies. This type of pattern also makes it difficult to predict where forest fire smoke will be.
Sixty-six per cent chance of La Niña weather emerging, U.S. forecaster says
There is a 66 per cent chance of the La Niña weather pattern, characterized by cold temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, emerging during September-November, a U.S. government forecaster said on Thursday.
Prairie forecast: Temperatures to warm up
Forecast issued Aug. 7, covering Aug. 7 to 14, 2024
For this forecast period, it's looking like the forecasted strong area of high pressure is going to dominate the weather across the Prairies. This should bring plenty of sunshine and warming temperatures. Overnight lows look to be seasonable, so at this point it doesn't look like we'll see heat warnings—but as usual you just never know.
Prairie forecast: Cooler weather coming, but little precipitation
Forecast issued July 31, covering July 31 to August 7, 2024
It's looking like we'll soon see an end to the hot conditions of the last few weeks as upper ridging collapses and the upper flow across the Prairies moves to a straight west-to-east flow. Under this pattern, we should see textbook summer conditions. The only downside is there aren't many chances of precipitation.
Prairie forecast: Heatwave coming to an end
Forecast issued July 24 covering July 24 to 31, 2024
Southern Alberta, southern and central Saskatchewan and Manitoba will see another day or two of hot weather before the northern low drags a cold front southward, which will bring an end to this extended heatwave.
Prairie forecast: Prolonged heatwave expected
Forecast issued July 17, covering July 17 to 24, 2024
The second heatwave of the summer appears to be establishing itself across the Prairies. This heatwave looks to last the whole forecast period as a strong upper ridge builds over central North America. Intense heat will stretch from the southern U.S. to the Arctic ocean.
La Niña weather 70 per cent likely to develop in Aug-Oct
The current neutral phase between La Niña and El Niño weather patterns is expected to continue for several months, with a 79 per cent chance of La Niña November through January, the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said in its monthly forecast.
Prairie forecast: More typical summer weather
Forecast issued July 10, covering July 10 to 17, 2024
For this forecast period, it looks like the upper ridge will slowly flatten and drop southwards as a series of weak lows track across the northern Prairies. This will result in a reduction in the extreme temperatures. Daytime highs and overnight lows should fall back to more seasonable values.
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
