We are well into April, and it’s time to take a look back at March through the lens of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s weather statistics.
According to the statistics, Moose Jaw – and much of southern Saskatchewan – didn’t ride the temperature roller coaster this time around.
“Moose Jaw ended up 0.6° above normal for the month of March temperature wise, the monthly mean is -3.2 and the normal is -3.8. So pretty much bang on for March,” explained Warning Preparedness Meteorologist, Danielle Desjardins.
“There were the usual temperature swings, but overall, the month didn't look quite as extreme with the just how far the pendulum swung each way.”
Much like Moose Jaw, temperatures didn’t depart much from the norm across the southern portion of the province. Yorkton averaged out to –7.1°, a mere 0.7° colder than normal for that time of year. Regina and Saskatoon were 0.1° warmer and 0.3° colder respectively than the typical March.
North Battleford, Swift Current and Estevan were the outliers on the warm side, the Battlefords area exited March with an average temperature of –5.2° or 1.4° warmer than normal. Swift Current was a full 2.5° above their normal of –3.1°, with their monthly mean being just –0.6°. Estevan saw their 30th warmest March on record with –2.4°, a 2.1° departure from normal for the month.
Desjardins said the lack of snow on the ground in the south helped drive temperatures up.
“It's almost a feedback process. A lot of times in the spring we get these really warm air masses, but the snowpack will keep temperatures a little bit muted because the melting of the snow takes up energy, so it keeps things a little bit cooler.”
“When you don't have any of that snowpack, it's much easier to get the ambient temperature to increase even a couple more degrees.”
Key Lake stood out from the rest of the province however, marking their seventh coldest March in 48 years of record keeping. They recorded a monthly mean of –17.5°, 4.8° colder than the –12.7° that is typical for the region.
While overall temperatures were pretty close to normal throughout the month, precipitation levels were anything but for a large part of Saskatchewan, with many regions seeing levels closer to 50 per cent of what is to be expected.
“There were quite a few stations that were in the top 10 or broke the top 10 (driest on record). Most notably Prince Albert, only 15 per cent of their normal precipitation for the month of March, that put them at 7th driest.” said Desjardins.
Moose Jaw itself fared far better than most however, receiving 89 per cent of its normal monthly precipitation with 13.4mm landing out of the normal 15mm. Desjardins noted that had it not been for a storm system on March 14 that deposited 6.8mm Moose Jaw would also be among the driest in the province.
Notably, Swift Current only saw 23 per cent of the normal level in March, with just 3.8mm out of the expected 16.2mm making March 2025 the 11th driest on record.
The end-of-month Alberta Clipper that roared across Saskatchewan is responsible for much of the precipitation that fell in March, and the regions spared by the brunt of the storm averaged on the low end.
“The stats were really heavily influenced by the Alberta Clipper system that tracked through the province at the end of the month. So that put some stations a lot closer to normal. However, every station ended up below normal for the month of March,” said Desjardins.
Saskatoon and Yorkton joined Moose Jaw in receiving near-adequate levels of precipitation, with 87 and 86 per cent respectively.