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
Tag Archives Weather Vane column — page 6
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
Smoke and weather are a complex combination
Smoke and its effects can vary greatly depending on the state of the atmosphere, amount of smoke and where in the atmosphere it is located. The first major and obvious impact is the effect of smoke on temperatures. Smoke particles both scatter and absorb sunlight, which leads to lower surface temperatures. Daytime temperatures often don’t […] Read more
Why our weather has been cool and wet recently
As we work toward the start of summer, an ugly weather term has popped up — upper-level low. The coolish unsettled weather is the result of a large, elongated upper low sitting over much of the Prairies. I cringe whenever I hear mention of an upper-level low or a cut-off low. Unless you are in […] Read more
Time to start watching severe summer weather
What are the ingredients for severe thunderstorms? First, you need rising air. To get that, you need heat. Or more accurately, you need a large difference in temperature between two areas. There are a couple of ways you can achieve this. One that most people are familiar with is to have a very hot day, […] Read more
Prairies wait for weather to start warming up
Spring is flying by, and the big question now is, when will we start seeing summer-like temperatures? Will we see a dramatic switch like we saw last year, when around May 10, daytime highs soared into the upper 20s across the Prairies and stayed that warm or warmer right through to the end of June? […] Read more
Science helps understand early, late frost risk
Besides drought, frost probably has the greatest impact on agriculture. Using a climatic definition, frost occurs when the temperature of the land surface drops below 0 C, but with respect to agriculture, frost is substantially more difficult to define. Looking at cereal crops, for example, a temperature of 0 C will not result in crop […] Read more
Prairies have made a slow slide into drought
We had a fairly major storm system on the Prairies last week, but it was not strong enough to warrant major attention. Manitoba received the most moisture from this system, with widespread 20 to 30 millimetres of rain mixed with snow. The northern half of agricultural Saskatchewan, along with the far eastern regions, also saw […] Read more
