Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s been a rather remarkable spring across Alberta this year. Looking back at the weather records for 2016 you could almost say that spring arrived in February, with temperatures running over 6° above long-term averages. Those mild temperatures continued into March, with mean temperatures that were around 5 degrees above average. The big question after such […] Read more
The heat’s been on for months — and there’s no end in sight
You could almost say winter ended three months ago, and the long-range forecasts are for more hot, dry weather
An early spring may lead to an early start to thunderstorm season
These awe-inspiring storms are associated with hot, humid days — but they can form under other conditions, too
Reading Time: 3 minutes With a pretty warm first half of April across Alberta I won’t be surprised if we end up seeing an early start to thunderstorm season. So I figured that maybe we should have an early start to my annual look at thunderstorms. To begin with, we’ll need to talk about one of my weather pet peeves, […] Read more
Alberta acres need one good soaking rain
Reading Time: < 1 minute Although over-winter precipitation accumulations were well below normal across most of Alberta, total over-winter precipitation deficits do not exceed 70 millimetres, even in the driest areas. “From a cropping perspective, these shortfalls can effectively be eased by one good soaking rain, or a few large spring snowstorms,” says Ralph Wright of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. […] Read more
A big-picture look at why this winter was so unusually warm
An ongoing battle between a western ridge and eastern trough explains why Alberta has been warmer than average for so long
Reading Time: 3 minutes No matter which way you look at it, winter is over across agricultural Alberta — and it was definitely a warm one. While it won’t go down in the record books, Alberta’s been in a persistently long warm spell with seven consecutive months of above-average temperatures recorded at all three of the main locations. Winter […] Read more
Could this be one of the warmest springs on record?
AccuWeather is forecasting an exceptionally warm and dry spring — and it has good reasons for making such a bold prediction
Reading Time: 3 minutes AccuWeather came out early in February with its spring weather prediction, so I figured that maybe I should join in and take a look at what the different forecasters are calling for this spring. After all, meteorological spring starts on the first day of March (March-April-May). In what I think is a pretty bold move, AccuWeather […] Read more
The global weather stories of the year? Mine are heat and hurricanes
El Niño combined with ongoing global warming to set yet another temperature record and also fuelled major hurricanes and typhoons
Reading Time: 3 minutes I figured I would begin our look back at 2015’s weather from a global perspective and then zoom into North America, Canada, and Western Canada in particular, in an upcoming article. I have to pretty much agree with the top two 2015 global weather stories that nearly every website has come up with — 2015 […] Read more
The year in numbers — a quick look back at 2015
Two things stand out when reviewing data from across Alberta — it was a little drier than normal and consistently warmer
Reading Time: 2 minutes With the ending of one year and the beginning of a new one, we traditionally take a look back at what was and then look ahead to see what the new year might have in store for us. From a weather point of view there a number of ways we can do this — from […] Read more
When Mother Nature goes to extremes, the consequences are massive
Whether it’s heat or cold, dry or wet, you can only hope these records will stand for a long, long time
Reading Time: 3 minutes Each year Environment Canada puts out its Top 10 weather stories and I like to go through them taking a more western focus. I thought it might be interesting to go back over the last 115 years or so and look at some of the biggest weather stories to hit the Canadian Prairies — according […] Read more
The weather outside hasn’t been frightful, nor has the snow come
It was a warm November across the Prairies, but especially in the Peace and Manitoba
Reading Time: 3 minutes I know I have promised to take a look at big snowfall events for a while now, but I kind of forgot that the end of the month was coming and that is typically when we do our look-back and look-ahead at our Prairie weather. Besides, the way the weather is going it doesn’t look […] Read more
Dreaming of a warm Christmas? El Niño may grant your wish
Winter is still winter, but history says the El Niño phenomenon brings above-average temperatures
Reading Time: 3 minutes After a fairly mild first half of November, things have turned cooler and a little more wintery. While it’s beginning to look like winter might have moved in for good, the long-range models seem to be really hanging their hats on El Niño bringing more above-average temperatures in December and right through the rest of […] Read more