Farmers wrapping up harvest operations in Saskatchewan got an assist from Mother Nature yesterday.
In Leader, Sask., temperatures climbed to 26.6 C, while multiple locations across the province recorded record highs.
At 23.2 C, a 100-year-old record was broken in southern Saskatchewan in Estevan.
“When they’re old like that and we have a really established record, we consider that quite significant,” said Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
Records were also recorded in Assiniboia, Melfort, Moose Jaw, Nipawin, North Battleford, Regina, Rosetown, Saskatoon, Swift Current, Watrous and Wynyard.
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Saskatchewan is seeing a warmer-than-average October. In Regina, the average of the highs and lows seen this month is around 14.2 C, said Lang. Historical averages are 4.3.
“That tells you it’s been a really warm October. Think about last year. It had already snowed,” said Lang. “It’s quite a shift, quite a change, but that’s just the nature of how the weather is, especially in the fall and the spring.”
Temperatures in September were average, said Lang, but that includes warmer weather at the end of the month and a cold spell that brought frost to many regions Sept. 10-12, damaging crops.
A jet stream that’s moving eastward from British Columbia is the source of the shift, said Lang.
“When the jet stream is to the north of us, that’s when we get into the warmer temperatures,” she said.
While farmers in the east-central part of Saskatchewan lag behind the rest of the province, harvest operations were more than 90 percent complete as of Oct. 13, according to the province’s most recent crop report. It’s the latest harvest since 2010, says the agriculture ministry.
This morning, Environment Canada’s forecast for the rest of the week showed more good weather for most regions in the province, although rain was forecast tomorrow for some communities.
