July, set right in the middle of summer, is often a month where temperatures rise and moisture amounts start to fall as the seasons begin to change. The latest data from Environment and Climate Change Canada shows that the opposite is true, with some cooler and rainer days making an appearance last month.
Scientist Christy Climenhaga takes a look at some of their statistics on July cooling down this year.
"In the Estevan area, it was cooler than normal for July. Looking at our stats, temperatures came in about 0.4 degrees below normal. So that still puts you pretty close to normal, but your mean temperature, averaging all the temperatures, highs and lows for the month, you got 18.7 as your mean temperature, which your normal is about 19.1. So pretty close to normal, slightly cooler, especially because of the cooler weather set up for the latter half of the month."
The Estevan area also saw a reversal compared to last month, which featured a very dry June, which is normally the wettest month of the year.
Climenhaga says we got a bit of extra rain, helping out farmers in the region.
"In terms of moisture, it was slightly wetter than normal. We saw 73.9 millimetres of precipitation, your normal being 66.2. So again, pretty close to normal, but just slightly wetter than normal for the month."
Smoke was also prevalent over the month, as wildfires continue to burn in northern Saskatchewan and smoke gets pushed to the south.
While exact numbers aren't available for the Estevan area, other nearby places did see quite a bit of smoke.
"It was very smoky throughout Saskatchewan, including southeastern Saskatchewan. I mean, looking close-ish, Regina saw its smokiest July on record. They saw 109 hours of smoke in the month of July, the smokiest month on record. Now, in terms of year-to-date, it's been very smoky in Saskatchewan. It's the second smokiest season so far, and we're only to the end of July."
August is proving to be a continuation of those conditions, with cooling temperatures and rain forecasted for the upcoming week.