Environment Canada climatologist forecasts golf weather in October

Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips describes October like a tug-of-war between two seasons.

It might feel chilly now, but Phillips is forecasting sunshine and temperatures around 20 C next week.

“People will be golfing in Regina,” Phillips told the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Thursday.

“Yeah, there’s a little bit of scraping on windows (due to overnight frost) perhaps in parts of the province, but clearly we think there’s a lot of summer left in the air.”

Phillips said winter usually tries to gain a foothold near Thanksgiving.

In the last 10 years, there has only been one October where there hasn’t been snow, he said.

He recalled a severe snowstorm in Regina in 1998 that dropped 18 centimetres of snow, bringing down trees.

“The leaves were still on the trees. It brought all of the trees down. They broke like toothpicks,” Phillips said. “Ten days later, the temperature soared to 24 degrees. People traded their snow shovels for golf clubs.”

When winter finally arrives for good, Phillips believes it will be relatively mild.

“Winters aren’t what they used to be. So it’s not as if it’s going to be the winter from hell. Polar vortex won’t be the dirty word,” he said.

“I think there will be a little bit of Pacific air (and) northern air. (It’ll be) kind of a mixed-up kind of winter, which I think makes it go faster.”