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Prairie Forecast Update: Warmer air not in the cards

Issued Oct. 29, covering Oct. 29 to Nov. 1

The forecast for this period has been playing out pretty close to what the weather models were predicting, but with a few small differences. For Alberta, the forecasted upper ridge does not look like it will get nearly as strong as originally forecasted as a strong northwesterly flow helps to flatten the ridge. This means […] Read more

Fresh snow on an ornamental crabapple tree in Winnipeg, Oct. 25, 2023. (Dave Bedard photo)

Prairie Forecast: Arctic high slowly moving out

Issued Oct. 25, covering Oct. 25 to Nov. 1

As is often the case at this time of the year, the weather models got the general picture right, but the finer details were much to be desired. Usually, the models struggle with the forecast beyond two to five days out, but for much of this forecast period they struggled with the finer details on […] Read more

A black-billed magpie in Edmonton on Oct. 19, 2023. (Photo: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Reuters)

Prairie Forecast Update: Cold and some snow coming

Issued Oct. 22, covering Oct. 22 to 25

I have been waiting to see if the weather models were going to come into agreement on the upcoming shift on our weather pattern and for the most part, they have: it’s going to get cold! A large area of low pressure has formed over the eastern Arctic and the counterclockwise rotation around that low […] Read more

One day you’re out walking or biking with short sleeves in early November, and a couple of days later, you’re digging out from a snowstorm. That is weather.

The difference between climate and weather

A warm fall is weather; decades of warmer autumns are climate

When media talk about climate change, a lot of confusion can arise, and that can negatively impact what needs to be done about climate warming. When I write and talk about this topic, I call it climate warming, not climate change. The term “global warming” is fine, but I feel it has been so overused […] Read more

File photo of the northern lights over snow and stubble on a Saskatchewan field. (Nancy Anderson/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie Forecast: Warmer, colder… then snow?

Issued Oct. 18, covering Oct. 18-25

Not surprisingly for this time of the year, the last forecast didn’t play out exactly as expected, but overall, it was pretty darn close. The large area of high pressure that was forecasted to develop over the northern Prairies and slowly drop southward did just as forecast, but over the first few days the high […] Read more


A tract of Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by farmers at Rio Pardo in Brazil’s Rondonia state on Sept. 15, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Ricardo Moraes)

Brazil tells landowners to stop setting fires in Amazon ‘climate emergency’

Properties could be embargoed, agency says

Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s government told ranchers and farmers on Friday to stop setting fire to the Amazon rainforest as clouds of dense gray smoke make the air increasingly unbreathable in the northern city of Manaus, threatening sanctions if they do burn areas of land. “Fire is not natural in the Amazon, it […] Read more

Two pumpkins arrive for a weigh-off on Oct. 7, 2023 at Smoky Lake, Alta., about 115 km northeast of Edmonton, as part of the 33rd annual Great White North Smoky Lake Pumpkin Festival. Don Crews of Lloydminster secured his champion title with a 2,037.5-lb. pumpkin. (Photo: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Reuters)

Prairie Forecast: Sprawling high to bring dry, seasonably warm weather

Issued Oct. 11, covering Oct. 11-17

For the first time in a while, the last forecast period did not play out exactly as the weather models predicted, thanks mostly to a strong area of low pressure that moved westwards from the Atlantic into central Ontario last weekend and into the first half of this week. While the low didn’t impact the […] Read more

File photos of Yukon ranchland. (StockstudioX/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie Forecast: Building western ridge to bring warming trend

Issued Oct. 4, covering Oct. 4-10

Last week’s weather forecast played out close to what the weather models were predicting. Western regions saw cooler-than-average temperatures move in, while eastern regions saw a brief return to summer-like temperatures. This pattern was a response to an area of low pressure that spun up over the central U.S. during the second half of the […] Read more


File photo of Lake Winnipeg at Grand Beach Provincial Park. (IanChrisGraham/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie Forecast Update: Wet weather for southern Manitoba, southeastern Saskatchewan

Update issued Oct. 2, covering Oct. 2-4

The strong area of low pressure that the weather models have been forecasting to impact the eastern half of the Prairies on Tuesday and Wednesday is starting to take shape. The latest model runs show the low pushing northward into western Manitoba early on Tuesday morning and then moving off toward northwestern Ontario by late […] Read more

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

Prairie Forecast: Summer tries to hang on

Issued Sept. 27, covering Sept. 27 to Oct. 4

For being this far into fall, the weather models have been surprisingly accurate. Heck, I didn’t even need to send an update for the last issue! Not sure if I can be as optimistic for this forecast period, as we are moving deeper into fall and starting to see the first hints of winter trying […] Read more