After five consecutive months of cooler than normal weather, it appears that trend is about to finally change. David Phillips, Senior Climatologist with Environment Canada, says southern Manitoba is in store for a summer that is hotter than normal.
Environment Canada considers June 1st the official start of summer. And, Phillips says we can expect a lot of heat for the summer months of June, July and August. He cautions that it might take a bit to get there in early June, but the rest of the month will more than makeup for it. In fact, Phillips expects each of the months this summer will end up being hotter than normal.
As for precipitation, it would appear some relief is in sight from this trend of very wet weather. Phillips says though their forecast is for a summer that is wetter than normal in northern Manitoba, they are forecasting near-normal precipitation this summer for the southern part of the province.
For those wondering whether there is any historical correlation between a harsh winter, followed by a hot summer, Phillips says, unfortunately, our weather does not work that way.
"One season does not give you a clue as to what the next season is going to be," he notes.
However, Phillips says the lone exception might be the transition from winter to spring. He notes a harsh Manitoba winter with a lot of snow on the ground can result in spring-like weather being slow to arrive because of what it takes to first melt that snowpack.
"Just because you have a nasty winter, nature doesn't look at you and say, 'okay I feel sorry for you, I'm going to give you a great summer, drier and sunny and warm and great for growing crops.' No no, I wish it was that way because we'd have this thing all figured out," he says.
Phillips says southern Manitoba has now had back-to-back extremes when referring to our spring weather. He notes last spring was one for the record books with how dry it was, and then this spring was just the opposite.
"These series of Colorado lows just came one right after another, lined up like jumbo jets in the airport tarmac and they just kept coming one after another, crossing the province and bringing copious amounts of precipitation," he recalls.
With the most recent Colorado low now in the rearview mirror, Phillips says the next few days look to be dry. He notes though the next week might not be warmer than normal, we will certainly get close. The normal high for this time of year is 23 degrees. Phillips anticipates we will see temperatures in the low 20s again by later this week.