The official start to summer is quickly approaching, and a fresh forecast for the season in Alberta is hinting that Mother Nature is cooking up quite the weather.
Daily Hive spoke to Jennifer Kowal, an operational meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), regarding what the weather is looking like for Alberta this summer.
Reminder that the forecast time frame is June, July, and August, so if you’re hoping for some extended heat into September, you’ll have to wait a bit longer to see if that is in the cards.
Focusing on temperatures first, Kowal says that so far, the seasonal forecast for Alberta is basically warm across the board, with it looking a little bit warmer in the southern portions of the province than the northern sections. Despite that, the forecast is looking at a 40 to 70 per cent chance of being warmer than normal this summer for the entire province.
Kowal added it’s not just Alberta that’s set to be hit by warmth this summer, with neighbouring British Columbia and the rest of the Prairie provinces looking at warmer-than-normal temperatures.
No wild temperature extremes, like a heat dome we saw earlier this decade, are also forecast, which is welcome news to those without the luxury of having air conditioning.
Turning to precipitation, it’s also looking a little bit drier than normal in Alberta this summer; however, it’s nothing on the extreme side. Models are currently signalling an average summer all around for precipitation, as far as the tendency to get dumps of rain thanks to afternoon thunderstorms.
“There’s no particularly stronger signal anywhere, apart from the fact that the south tends to be warmer than the north, regardless. So, yeah, it’s basically just warmer and drier across the board, really across Canada,” Kowal said.
As for advice for Albertans as we enter the summer months, Kowal emphasized that staying safe in the summer is somewhat two-fold, with the importance of having access to sunscreen, shade, cold water, and being aware of the forecast during heat events, while also being super aware of what you’re doing and how it might relate to the wildfire situation.
“Be extra vigilant about basically anything that you might do in your home, as well as in the backcountry, that could start an unintentional human-caused wildfire. When we’re talking about warm and dry, just be extremely aware of the risks that you can pose to yourself between the heat and the fires. Stay smart out there.”
With talk of a particularly strong El Niño potential swirling around, we’ll have to wait and see how that impacts our fall and winter months later this year. For now, it’s sounding like it’s going to be a pretty nice summer forecast for Alberta, so get out and enjoy it while it lasts.
Originally published on Daily Hive.
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