Global News’ meteorologist Peter Quinlan offered a weather preview on Thursday, one day before astronomical fall kicked in on Friday.
He brought good news, saying that fall temperatures are likely to remain above average before the cold kicks in.
“We are going to see this warmer than normal trend, but also a drier than normal trend stick around as an El Nino pattern has set up in the south Pacific.”
Quinlan said on average, Saskatoon usually sees about two centimetres of snow in September, but that might not be a possibility this year.
“We have to wait on that. It looks like maybe we won’t be seeing that … but we are going to see a warmer and drier season this winter likely.”
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Quinlan said that Saskatoon experienced the 12th warmest season on record in the summer of 2023.
“Temperatures ended up trending, overall, about 1.1 degrees warmer than normal. We saw 18 days where the mercury got above 30 degrees.”
He said that on average, that usually happens for only around 13 days.
He noted it was also drier than normal.
“It totalled about 114 millimetres — normally we would see about 168.”
Environment Canada confirmed that there was only one confirmed tornado in the province, which is under the average in terms of severe weather.
Quinlan said part of it was due to forest fire smoke and heat ridges.
“There were also a lot of storms in Alberta and sometimes when they happen on that side of the border, we see less tornadic activity here in Saskatchewan.”
He said normally the province experiences around 16 to 18 tornados per summer.
“Last year, we had 24 to 26, I believe.”
Quinlan reminded Saskatoon citizens to get outside and enjoy the temperatures while they last and take in the fall views before the trees drop their leaves.
“We are going to reach the peak later this week in terms of the fall foliage.”
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