When it was all said and done, June in Saskatchewan averaged out to be fairly normal temperature wise. Environment and Climate Change Canada’s overview for the month showed most stations recording a departure of no more than 1° Celsius from normal. The only outlier being Key Lake which recorded its sixth coldest June on record, coming in at -1.8° below normal.
While the days were hot, a low-pressure system tracked across the province from June 21 to 23 that sent temperatures as low as 10° and brought the averages down to normal levels.
Moose Jaw itself was a mere –0.2° below its normal temperature of 16.1° at 15.9°. That trend continued across much of southern Saskatchewan with Regina, Swift Current, Estevan and Yorkton all falling within one degree of normal.
Precipitation levels are where things begin to stand out over the past month. Conditions were mixed, with both the northern and southern ends of the province experiencing an extremely dry June.
Estevan, Moose Jaw, Swift Current and Key Lake all received inadequate rainfall last month, with 20, 23, 26, and 40 per cent of their normal precipitation, respectively.
Key Lake recorded their fourth driest June in nearly 50 years, and Estevan’s meager rainfall left them with the fifth driest June in 113 years.
Moose Jaw didn’t crack the top 10 driest June’s on record, however only 21.1mm of rain fell, far short of the 91mm needed.
“This is a long-term problem across the prairies. We've been dealing with drier than normal months, time and again,” said meteorologist, Crawford Luke.
"I'm just looking at Moose Jaw here, back to the start of 2023 and there are only two months in that time that we're actually wetter than normal. There are a few other months where it was kind of near normal, but everything else is drier than or much drier than normal.”
The exception to this trend came when a low-pressure system tracked across the province from June 21 to 23 and brought 60 to 80 mm of precipitation across the northern grain belt, including North Battleford, Saskatoon and Prince Albert.
North Battleford was the clear winner for rainfall, receiving 155 per cent of their normal levels for a total of 93mm—far exceeding the typical 60.1mm for the month.
Prince Albert and Saskatoon also benefited greatly from the low-pressure system, receiving 108 and 105 per cent of their normal levels with 93.7 and 78.4mm, respectively.
That system made up the lion’s share of all precipitation for those regions.
As July progresses, much of the province—particularly the south—will continue to echo the call for more rainfall to make up last month’s considerable deficits.