coverJune 3rd sky

How about this weather, eh!
Tisdale - Friday , June 15, 2012

002
In Saskatchewan there is but one topic of conversation, be it over breakfast, at coffee or greeting a friend at the post office. Deep down everyone no matter what their profession or occupation we are all amazingly influenced by the full 180º sphere of sky above and around us and we are all intently concerned about the wind, the clouds, sunshine or the lack of it and the temperature. In a few days time it will be officially summer so these are the last days of a chilly spring.

The picture at the top of the page was taken at the start of June which began by being pretty similar to the chilly and wet May. Things haven’t changed much with the temperature rarely rising to the level were we need to have air conditioning in our cars. Last Monday I had the air condition in my little Escape fixed. We bought the vehicle in the winter and it was not until just two weeks ago I felt the need to turn on the air and discovered it wasn’t working. But, it is repaired now but it hasn’t been warm enough to be required.

003
004
This evening I was considering what I should post today and then there was a nasty clap of thunder followed by many more. Our back yard and back alley are already soggy but now everything is laying in water with a nice dusting of hail. It’s hard to tell if the hail was severe enough to damage the leaves and garden but the downpour was definitely attention getting.

Most people in Saskatchewan are pretty familiar with drought, that seemed to be the thing for summer for much of my life but alas things are changing as climate changes are now pretty obvious and we have all come to realize that the patterns of weather we have been familiar with all of our lives are undergoing some gradual but definitely radical changes. Warmer, milder winters and for this part of North America significantly more precipitation.

005

006
This afternoon I was listening to CBC radio as the Afternoon Edition read off the tornado warnings and watches for a good portion of the province then interviewed several witnesses who had seen multiple funnel clouds in their area. Weather systems have the potential of delivering some pretty harsh conditions and a recent study of the effects of climate change on Ontario reported that Canadians in general need to be much more aware of the dangers of quickly rising streams and rivers. Certainly, in this province this spring saw a significant number of road vehicles turned into bad boats with some fatal results.

Unfortunately, the observation, reporting and predicting of weather has become no longer the business of Environment Canada. Automated weather stations have replace weather offices across the country and actual weather making and prediction is a thing of the past. Without witnesses with experience on the ground the business of monitoring the weather is no longer possible and the weather predictions are all but completely unreliable. Last Sunday was to be raining all across Saskatchewan all day long. We drove to Regina in sunshine spent the day in the city and saw some scattered light showers from Raymore north close to ten in the evening.

I noticed that in Alberta the provincial government has weather monitoring equipment spotted around the province simply because Environment Canada just is no longer on the job. Here in Saskatchewan we really should consider establishing a provincial weather system to inform and warn the public.

Farmer groups and computer people have already set up a couple of weather monitoring networks but they only report what is and do not have meteorologist to work out the details of things to come.

In the mean time have some patience, there is a good chance you will get a bit of a tan in July or if not then this coming winter.

007