Weather extremes typical

Spring snow! It may have looked and felt like spring last week with temperatures rising to a record 22.7 C on March 31, but the mercury dropped over the weekend, leaving a foot of snow in Cypress Hills Park. However, temperatures are up to the double-digits again this week, with nothing but sunshine forecast for the next few days. Photo by Bud Sabean

By Marcia Love
It may be spring, but winter doesn’t seem to be finished quite yet.
Temperatures have fluctuated significantly in the Maple Creek area so far this month.
A warm weather record was broken in Maple Creek on March 31 when temperatures soared to 22.7 C, surpassing the previous record for the day of 21.7 C set in 1976.
But no sooner were residents biking around town in T-shirts than the mercury dropped. Temperatures plummeted back below zero, hitting a low of -7 C on April 4 and 6.
The Cypress Hills received a dump of snow over the weekend, with a foot of it blanketing the area after a storm system blew through between Saturday and Sunday.
Maple Creek got three centimetres of snow over the weekend, while Shaunavon was hit with about 15 cm and Eastend received about nine centimetres.
According to Environment Canada meteorologist David Phillips, this flip-flop in weather patterns isn’t unusual for this time of year, and residents shouldn’t expect to see anything unusual such as a return to the deep-freeze of winter.
The daily average for April in Maple Creek is 6.5 C, with an average high of 13.4 C and a low of -0.5 C. The area usually sees about 25 millimetres of precipitation during the month – typically comprised of about seven cm of snow.
Maple Creek has received just over six millimetres of precipitation in the first week of April. So far this month, the average high has been 7.5 C and the average low has been -5.1 C.
Phillips says there’s no promises we won’t see more snow. But the good news for now is temperatures are expected to remain in the double-digits for the majority of the coming week.
Sunny skies and a high of 15 C is forecast for Friday, followed by a high of 15 C again on Saturday and 9 C on Sunday with more sun.

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