Depending on where you live, of course, the month of June didn’t feel very summery for many. However, Environment Canada’s weather report for last month indicates Saskatchewan saw a very average June, when it comes to temperatures, that is. 

Meteorologist with Environment Canada Brian Proctor says the majority of June temperatures were on the warmer side of normal, hovering around 15 degrees, however a storm that tracked across Saskatchewan on June 21-23 did cool things off a bit, dropping the average temperatures slightly lower toward normal. Most reporting stations recorded mean temperatures that didn’t differ more than one degree from the historic June normal.  

“The biggest (discrepancy) we saw, when we look at mean monthly temperatures, would have been Key Lake. They were 1.8 degrees below normal, and on the other end of the extreme, it was both Swift Current and Estevan were 0.4 degrees above normal…Saskatoon was actually at normal completely, so not a lot of change.”

Proctor says precipitation was a different story. 

Most areas remained very dry. For example, Estevan, Moose Jaw, Swift Current and Key Lake only recorded 20 per cent, 23 per cent, 26 per cent, and 40 per cent of their normal precipitation respectively. However, that same storm, from June 21 through 23rd, brought 60-80 mm of rain to areas further north.

“Prince Albert had 108 per cent of (normal June) precipitation. Saskatoon, 105 per cent of precipitation. So, it was a very variable month, but in general the south was the driest part of the province.” This one June storm accounted for nearly all the recorded monthly precipitation to these stations and surrounding areas.

Proctor says June was also very active in respect to tornadoes.

“Typically, on an average year, we should see about 14 tornadoes in the province of Saskatchewan. Up to June 19th, we had already had 12 in Saskatchewan, and we still have a very active portion of the severe weather season to go through still with July and early August. It’s been a very active month, even though the story from the temperature and precipitation point of view doesn’t look that intriguing.”

If we stay at this pace, Proctor expects Saskatchewan will see 18-20 total tornadoes before the end of the season.