One hot week in Maple Creek
Posted on November 15, 2016 by Maple CreekSean McIntosh
Twitter: @SeanMCNews
smcintosh@maplecreeknews.com
No, you aren’t going crazy – it was actually that warm last week.
Records locally and province-wide were broken as Saskatchewan went through one of the hottest weeks ever in a November.
Record high temperatures in Maple Creek were broken on Nov. 7 and 8, according to Environment Canada. The old record for a Nov. 7 was 18.3 C, set in 1930 and 1949, but it got as warm as 21.1 C this year. The Nov. 8 record was beaten by an even higher margin, as the old record of 18.9 C set in 1961, was topped by 23.5 this year.
It isn’t just Maple Creek that broke temperature records according to Environment Canada, as Leader, Swift Current and dozens of other municipalities in Saskatchewan shattered record highs between Nov. 7 and 9.
Just a single day of warmth would be unordinary, but the sustained heat over time has been something Environment Canada senior meteorologist David Phillips hasn’t seen before.
“These are temperatures you’d expect in southern parts of the United States,” he told Maple Creek News. “Some of these temperatures are something you’d see in the first part of September, not the first part of November so it’s really been quite something.”
The weather the area got this October is far more common to what we would see in November and vice versa, said Phillips.
“It’s almost as if November was the October [southwest Saskatchewan] didn’t get,” he said. “It would have been nice if October had been October because farmers have lost a little bit in the quality of crop.”
The high temperatures seem to be coming to an end this week in Maple Creek, as Wednesday has a high of just 5 C and Thursday has a high of -2 C with a chance of flurries.
“Towards Thursday and Friday we’re going to see reality set in, with conditions that are more seasonable,” said Phillips.
Despite the warm November, it’s important not to let your guard down because winter is still coming, Phillips said.
“We think the last half of winter will be more winter like,” he said. “As you get into late-January, February and March, that’s where the toughest part of winter will be.”
Environment Canada is still uncertain exactly how rough this winter will be, Phillips said, adding that it could be similar to last year, which was not as cold as previous years.
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