Saskatchewan residents can expect warm start, cooler end to fall, meteorologist says

The leaves are changing to beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red, which means one thing — fall is near.

Global Saskatoon meteorologist Peter Quinlan said central and southern Saskatchewan residents can expect to see above-average warmth and lower than average precipitation for the first half of fall, but a stark change for the latter half.

“The second half may tilt to be colder than normal,” Quinlan said.

“Overall, it might be slightly above average. For precipitation, models are quite variable right now. It looks like we will be below normal.”

2:37 Saskatchewan weather outlook: Sept. 20

Meteorological fall is September, October and November.

Quinlan added that residents can expect a La Niña pattern to set up as we near winter 2021.

“We have a La Niña watch, which is a 70 to 80 per cent chance of development which is cooler waters off the coast of Peru in the South Pacific,” Quinlan said. “That is likely going to take place this winter.”

Quinlan said while last year was also a La Nina year, but it didn’t materialize as it normally does.

Fall officially begins on Wednesday.

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