Warm weather ahead as fall arrives in Saskatchewan

Fall officially arrived on Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean the end of warm weather in Saskatchewan.

David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada, said while the days are getting shorter, it doesn’t mean the cold weather is here quite yet.

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He said the forecast is good news for farmers, with warm, sunny weather expected this week for much of the province after a recent rainy stretch stalled harvest operations.

“The prayers have been answered,” Phillips said during an appearance on The Greg Morgan Morning Show.

“It hasn’t rained in seven days in southern Saskatchewan, and it looks like it’s not going to rain for another seven days.”

Listen to the full interview with Phillips:

Phillips said he expects farmers will be working hard to make up for lost time.

“I would think harvest is just going full tilt now,” he said. “I think I even see the headlights on combines well into the evening.”

Thursday is set to be the hottest day this week in Saskatchewan, with a high of 27 C expected in Regina and 26 C in Saskatoon.

Phillips said the warm weather comes as a “Godzilla El Niño” is building, with this particular El Niño being the warmest it has ever been and still growing.

“Typically it doesn’t mean that you’re not going to get frost on the pumpkin. It doesn’t mean that snow will not occur until after Remembrance Day. Those can come,” said Phillips.

“But the flavor, the personality of the fall temperatures are warmer than normal. When we see temperatures that are 23 C, 24 C – seven to 10 degrees warmer than normal – that is likely to continue.”

Phillips said Saskatchewan can expect temperatures to be above normal this winter. He said the last strong El Niño event saw Regina residents saving about 10-15 per cent on their home heating bills over the winter, while snowfall was down about 60 per cent.

“Instead of 43 cold days below -20 C, you had 25 of those suckers, and every month was warmer than normal except March,” the climatologist added.

Phillips said that same trend, with a soft opening to winter, is expected this year.

“We’re not cancelling winter, but boy, it will be sort of a bit of what we’ve had in the last couple of years,” he said.