Wild weather mix marks season so far
Calgary’s summer has been an exciting one. As we enter its last official month, here are five things to know about our warm season, writes Erin Sylvester.
1) There’ve been twisters.
There have been four tornadoes and 28 funnel clouds reported across southern Alberta since May, according to Environment Canada.
The funnel cloud that appeared over Calgary for part of the afternoon on July 22 was probably the most memorable for Calgarians. That storm had earlier produced a tornado near Priddis.
Apart from tornadoes, storms this summer have caused 95 reports of hail to Environment Canada.
2) It’s very dry.
According to data from Environment Canada, Calgary has received 48 to 73 mm less precipitation than average from April 1 to July 27. Environment Canada meteorologist Terri Lang says conditions are so poor for agriculture this summer because we had a drier than usual winter as well.
“It’s sort of the accumulated dryness as well,” she said.
“Sometimes you can have the dry winter or the dry spring and if the summer’s wet, no problem. But, if you have a dry winter into a dry spring into a dry summer, that’s when you really have a lot of problems.”
Calgary didn’t have a particularly dry winter, but a lot of the agricultural area in southern Alberta received less precipitation than usual.
3) It’s actually not that hot.
Compared to late-July temperatures last year, summer 2015 is actually not as hot. The maximum temperature this Monday, July 27, in Calgary was 18 degrees. Last year on July 28 it was 28 degrees (a pleasing parallel). Summer 2013 seems to have been especially chilly, with a July 29 maximum temperature of 12 degrees.
As of July 20, Calgary also hadn’t experienced much of a heat wave, with only one consecutive day with plus 25 degree temperatures.
This type of weather is fairly typical for Calgary, although regions outside the city, like Medicine Hat, tend to be much warmer.
4) Dry conditions mean more fires.
This one is a bit obvious, but when things are really dry, lightning or errant sparks can starts big forest fires. Southern Alberta typically doesn’t see the same major fires as they have up north and that’s because we have fewer forests. Grass fires just don’t burn the same way and the province also isn’t responsible for putting out fires in most of the south.
Wildfire rates across the province have been up this year, with a total of 1,518 fires in the forest protection area, up to July 31, compared to the five-year average of 1,054. Current fire bans and wildfire status updates can be found on the Alberta Agriculture and Forestry website.
5) Mosquito numbers may be down, but watch out for wasps.
Probably due in part to the dry season, mosquito numbers are low this year. Nick Cleveland, supervisor at Absolute Pest Control, says he’s noticed the pesky insects aren’t as prevalent.
“We’ve noticed that ourselves, because we haven’t been bitten when we’re out,” he said.
Nick Holland, owner of Peregrine Pest Control, says that wasps have been the major problem this year.
“I think there’s more of them than we’d expect for this time of year,” Holland said.
“They’re bigger and nastier than what I typically would expect.”
He said that during a wet summer he dealt with around 10 nests the whole summer.
“I’ve probably done 15 wasp nests today,” he said Friday.