One summer weather event is regularly overlooked but potentially severe: humidity. By its simplest definition, humidity is the amount of water vapour in the air. The warmer the air, the greater the distance between air molecules and therefore the greater the holding capacity of air for water vapour. Warm air has the capacity to hold […] Read more
Tag Archives Daniel Bezte — page 7
That sinking feeling when the heat hits
After a couple of July heat waves, the Prairies have seen a bit of a cool down. Although a heat wave is a weather event, its impact on people is key. This is why we can have heat waves in winter, but they don’t get as much attention due to their more limited impact on […] Read more
Will August stay warm?
We are well into the second half of summer and from a climatological perspective, temperatures are statistically starting their decline as we move toward autumn. That doesn’t mean August will be colder than July. We have seen hot Augusts in the past. After a cool June across the Prairies, July turned things around. All major […] Read more
Important to watch skies during storm season
What’s the best way to determine if a storm is capable of producing severe weather? The first thing is to listen to Environment Canada for watches and warnings. It is the only entity allowed to issue watches and warnings in Canada. If a watch is issued, it means the potential exists for severe thunderstorms, but […] Read more
Straight line winds can be very damaging
We know tornadoes can produce the most powerful winds on Earth, and they can be truly awe inspiring to see. Not very many of us will actually experience one because their spatial extent is small. But I can pretty much guarantee that if you live on the Prairies, you will experience a thunderstorm that produces […] Read more
Understanding how thunderstorms form hail
If you have spent any significant time on the Prairies, you have probably experienced a hailstorm. Hail can occur pretty much anywhere across North America, but there are two main regions where chances are significantly higher. The first is the central United States. The second is the Canadian Prairies, Alberta in particular. Can it be […] Read more
What makes a summer thunderstorm severe?
The Prairies have seen unsettled weather in the last month, including several outbreaks of heavy rain, strong wind, hail and even tornadoes, so it is a perfect time to continue a discussion of thunderstorms. Let’s look at what turns a garden-variety thunderstorm into a severe thunderstorm or even a thunderstorm that you truly remember. Typically, […] Read more
The highs and lows of weather
Glacier FarmMedia – Why do we have areas of high and low pressure and what causes them? First, we need to look at the big picture and work our way to more regional reasons. We know that strong sunshine along equatorial regions results in warm air, which wants to rise. When it rises, there is […] Read more
What weather will June, July and August bring?
We are now almost halfway through 2024 and if May was any indication, we could be in for an interesting summer across the Prairies. One year ago, July-like temperatures in May lasted through most of the month. This year we had to deal with unsettled weather dominated by upper-level lows. Usually, this type of weather […] Read more
What will summer weather bring to the Prairies?
Whenever we have upper lows, like last month, it usually results in below-average temperatures. This year it was warmer than expected, though there were some below average readings. In the west, Alberta saw near to slightly below average temperatures and precipitation. Calgary reported a mean monthly temperature of 9.7 C, which is bang on the […] Read more
