October was a warm and dry month, according to monthly weather statistics from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
Danielle Desjardins, a Meteorologist at the national weather office, says most weather stations in Saskatchewan reported temperatures one to three degrees above normal compared to previous October’s. Key Lake was the only spot to record its average monthly temperature of 1.3 degrees. Regina had an average temperature of 6.8 degrees, which is 2.5 degrees above normal.
She says it was due to an upper ridge system. “We basically saw pretty stable weather and also warm air coming in from the south, so overall, give or take a day or two, that’s what we saw for most of the province for the month of October,” said Desjardins, “All of the active weather was pushed further north into the arctic so that’s where the real active weather was for the month of October.”
The warmer weather resulted in less precipitation than normal. Weather stations at Estevan, Meadow Lake, Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Regina, Saskatoon, Swift Current, and Yorkton recorded at least 33 per cent or less of normal precipitation; North Battleford had its second driest October on record of just 1.1 millimetres of rain, Moose Jaw had its third driest month at 1.2 mm. Regina had only 2.8 mm, which is 11 per cent of normal and its 11th driest October on record. Most of the precipitation for last month fell in northern Saskatchewan – Key Lake and La Ronge specifically – where amounts were still drier than average but much closer to normal.
Overall, Desjardins says October wasn’t like September in terms of hotter weather but it was warm enough in its own right.