Fall could have warmer-than-average temperatures

Summer officially ends at 8:29 p.m. Monday but the weather forecast apparently didn’t get that memo.

“This could very well be the best week coming up of the entire year,” said Dave Phillips, chief meteorologist for Environment Canada. “It’s almost a weather-free zone across Saskatchewan.”

Forecasts are calling for temperatures in the high 20s and even up to 30 degrees for this week which is at least a dozen degrees above average daytime highs for this time of year.

“No precipitation, very great drying weather, night-time temperatures into the double digits, nothing close to the freezing mark,” Phillips said.

“It’s almost the summer that you didn’t get you’re seeing it now after the frost and after some areas of the province had a little bit of snow at the early part of September.”

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With wet and cool weather delaying the harvest across the province for the late part of August and early September, the hope is that this dry, summer-like weather will help producers catch up.

Looking at the long-term forecast for the rest of fall, Phillips could not rule out more frosty nights through October and light dustings of snow before Remembrance Day in November. He said the general picture is a positive one.

“Our models for October and November for the province are showing normal to warmer-than-normal conditions,” he said.

Phillips says these conditions should mark a big improvement over the extra-long winter last year.

“If this forecast turns out to be true, if it is normal to maybe slightly warmer than normal then already by the time we get to the first of December, we’ll be able to say that winter was shorter than it was last year because of the front end,” Phillips commented.

He noted that both Canadian and American weather models are showing more seasonal temperatures holding on into October and November.

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