Several locations in the province broke records for their coldest August 8 yesterday.
Natalie Hasell, meteorologist with Environment Canada, attributed the broken records to a ridge of high pressure. “Under these areas of high pressure, typically we get very light winds or no winds at all, and we also have no clouds in the sky.”
“As the sun sets, we no longer get the solar radiation input, and the surface of the planet just radiates heat out. Without clouds, there’s nothing to reabsorb some of that energy and send it back down to the surface, and without winds, there’s no mixing.”
Records broken yesterday include:
Coronach at –0.4 degrees (record 3 degrees set in 1996)
Assiniboia at 1.4 degrees (record 5.5 degrees set in 1989)
Lucky Lake at 1.5 degrees (record 6.2 degrees set in 2019)
Elbow at 1.9 degrees (record 4.6 degrees set in 2019)
Meadow Lake 2.4 degrees (record 2.6 degrees set in 2013)
Weyburn 2.8 degrees (beating the record of 4.4 degrees from 1961)
Outlook 3.3 degrees (tying record in 1952)
Rockglen 4.1 degrees (beating record of 6.6 degrees in 2013)
Moose Jaw got down to 2.3 degrees yesterday, which did not beat the record of –1.1 degrees set in 1927. Hasell said yesterday was the second coldest August 8 for Moose Jaw.
The overnight lows for Moose Jaw are expected to warm up, with tonight seeing a low of 9 degrees, and tomorrow is down to 6 degrees.
Above seasonal daytime highs are expected to return by Sunday, with a high of 28 degrees.