July is officially the second driest month on record for Regina.
Environment Canada confirmed that just 1.8 millimetres of rain fell during that month – nearly the smallest amount of precipitation since record taking began. The smallest amount was 1.5 mm in 1887.
That won’t come as a surprise for farmers in the southern grain belt, some of whom are struggling with extremely dry conditions.
The weather is even impacting SaskPower. Crews have been out doing inspections because ground shifting has been pulling wires away from meter boxes and in rare cases causing a fire.
Despite the temperatures recorded during the recent heat wave, it comes nowhere close to making July the hottest on record. July 2017 would rank 30th on the hottest months on record.
But Sunday’s heat wave led to a number of new temperatures records.
“Most notably in the Regina area Sunday, we broke the record from 2007. The new record is 37.7 degrees,” meteorologist Kirk Torneby confirmed. “There were so many records that were set that year. Out of the nine records that were set across the province, all but seven were from 2007.”
Moose Jaw, Maple Creek, Mankota, Lucky Lake, Leader, Assiniboia, Wynyard and Cypress Hills Provincial Park all broke records Sunday.
Providing no relief for area farmers, Environment Canada predicted August will remain hot and dry with temperatures, at times, even hotter than July.