Wild temperature swing ‘amazing’

After steamy Saturday set heat record, Monday dropped to below seasonal

The temperature in some Saskatchewan communities yo-yoed from oven-hot on Saturday to fridge-like on Monday — a swing that amazed meteorologist Terri Lang.

On Saturday the mercury rose to 41.3 C in Regina — an August record, said Lang, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

After lunch on Monday, the temperature hovered around 17 — a 24-degree difference.

“It really is amazing,” Lang said. “The other thing that’s amazing is that we had a layer of smoke over top of all of Western Canada and the temperatures probably would have gotten even hotter had there not been the smoke. It does act as a bit of a filter.”

A massive dome of hot air sitting over Western Canada intensified over southern parts of the province on Friday and Saturday.

“This upper ridge collapsed and when we get ridge breakdowns in the summer, we usually get a lot of wind and some rain or thundershowers,” Lang said.

“The bulk of the thundershowers went through the middle of the province and there were some sprinkles to the south.”

The previous August record in Regina was 40.6 in 1949, but the all-time record was 43.3 on July 5, 1937, Lang said.

Most of the records set were in southern Saskatchewan, she noted.

Last Thursday, Collins Bay hit a record 28.2, which broke the old record of 27.8 set in 1989.

Emergency departments in Regina and Saskatoon saw a few cases related to heat and/or smoke over the weekend, but there was no significant impact nor influx of patients in either city, according to the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

For the next couple of days, Lang expects the average high will be 26 and an average low of 11.

“We won’t have the oppressive heat, but we may see more smoke filtering in just because of the westerly winds at the higher levels of the atmosphere — that’s what brings in the smoke,” Lang said.

The dry weather is expected to continue with “no soakers coming in,” Lang said.

With no moisture from Mother Nature, firefighters in Saskatoon gave gardeners a reprieve from carrying watering cans, turning their hoses toward some community gardens on Friday and Saturday.

“It saved us a lot of trouble,” Lang said.

BRANDON HARDER Nicole Debruyne, who works for the Provincial Capital Commission, was out watering flowers near the Legislative Building on Monday following a bout of stifling summer heat. Despite the dark clouds hanging over the city for most of the day, no rain had fallen by mid afternoon.