File photo of autumn colours around Lake Diefenbaker in Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park. (Nancy Anderson/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie forecast: Cooler, but still warmer than average

Forecast issued Sept. 25, covering Sept. 25 to Oct. 2, 2024

Despite a fairly unsettled pattern over the last forecast period, the weather models did a pretty good job of the forecast. For this forecast period, things should settle down a bit with a ridge of high pressure starting off our forecast. That doesn't mean that we won’t see any areas of low pressure, but unsurprisingly, the weather pattern is slowly shifting towards more of a fall pattern. That means quicker moving systems.

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Prairie forecast: Weather pattern has undergone a shift

This forecast period starts with one of the northwestern U.S. lows slowly lifting northwards. The unsettled weather that started the week across parts of Saskatchewan and much of southern Manitoba looks to continue. It appears the low will only move out late Friday or early Saturday. Even parts of southern Alberta my see some rainfall from this low on Wednesday.

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Prairie forecast: Cooler and wetter in the west, dry and warm in the east

Forecast issued Sept. 11, covering Sept. 11 to 18, 2024

Our weather pattern looks to be on the brink of a shift as a trough of low pressure begins to develop along the West  Coast. For those of you in Alberta, this will mean cooler and wetter conditions. In Manitoba, it looks like summer will continue for at least one more week. If you are in Saskatchewan, well, you will be stuck in the middle of these two features.


Photo: Thinkstock

Prairie forecast: Warm but unsettled weather

Forecast issued Aug. 21, covering Aug. 21 to 28, 2024

Last week's forecast got off to a rough start. The area of low pressure that pushed through the eastern Prairies ended up as a large upper level low. Because those are slow to move out, they can affect systems trying to move east by backing them up or forcing them to take a different path. So, while the overall pressure pattern across the Prairies was still slack as forecasted, the details got all messed up.


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Prairie forecast: Weak systems make for tricky forecast

Forecast issued Aug. 14, covering Aug. 14 to 21, 2024

The slack or weak pattern looks to continue into much of next week, which makes it difficult to pinpoint which areas could see showers or thunderstorms, and on which days. Best chances for precipitation look to be over the eastern Prairies. This type of pattern also makes it difficult to predict where forest fire smoke will be.

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Prairie forecast: Temperatures to warm up

Forecast issued Aug. 7, covering Aug. 7 to 14, 2024

For this forecast period, it's looking like the forecasted strong area of high pressure is going to dominate the weather across the Prairies. This should bring plenty of sunshine and warming temperatures. Overnight lows look to be seasonable, so at this point it doesn't look like we'll see heat warnings—but as usual you just never know.

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Prairie forecast: Cooler weather coming, but little precipitation

Forecast issued July 31, covering July 31 to August 7, 2024

It's looking like we'll soon see an end to the hot conditions of the last few weeks as upper ridging collapses and the upper flow across the Prairies moves to a straight west-to-east flow. Under this pattern, we should see textbook summer conditions. The only downside is there aren't many chances of precipitation.


File photo of wheat south of Ethelton, Sask. on Aug. 1, 2022. (Dave Bedard photo)

Prairie forecast: Heatwave coming to an end

Forecast issued July 24 covering July 24 to 31, 2024

Southern Alberta, southern and central Saskatchewan and Manitoba will see another day or two of hot weather before the northern low drags a cold front southward, which will bring an end to this extended heatwave.

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Prairie forecast: More typical summer weather

Forecast issued July 10, covering July 10 to 17, 2024

For this forecast period, it looks like the upper ridge will slowly flatten and drop southwards as a series of weak lows track across the northern Prairies. This will result in a reduction in the extreme temperatures. Daytime highs and overnight lows should fall back to more seasonable values.