MarketsFarm — As summer turns to autumn on the Canadian Prairies, the weather outlook for the rest of September is for temperatures to be warmer than normal, according to Scott Kehler, chief scientist for Weatherlogics.
One of the factors in those forthcoming temperatures is the El Niño that has been developing over the last several months.
“We are already starting to see a bit of it. The El Niño is in place. It’s been building for a while,” Kehler said.
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“As we begin the winter season, normally the effects of an El Niño are more pronounced, and it will tend to bring a warmer-than-normal winter to the western Prairies. Then for the eastern Prairies, it’s more mixed. Some years it’s warmer than normal, some year it’s not.”
This year, he said, the eastern Prairies are very likely to experience warmer than normal temperatures.
Kehler cautioned these temperatures won’t necessarily be very hot. Norms for September are often in the upper teens Celsius, he said, so days in the low 20s would qualify as above normal.
There could be a few days, he said, in which daytime highs reach the upper 20s to low 30s.
Kehler also noted the southern Prairies will be drier than normal.
The Canadian Drought Monitor showed most of the Prairies were in some kind of drought as of July 31, ranging from D0 (Abnormally Dry) to D4 (Extreme Drought). Only the area around Edmonton and to the west of the Alberta city were deemed to be drought-free. Meanwhile the hardest hit areas were in southern Alberta and western Saskatchewan.
— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.
