September goes out on a hot note as heat records fall in 11 Sask. communities

September ended on a hot note in Saskatchewan this year.

Environment Canada said 11 communities around the province broke heat records on Tuesday, which marked the last day of September. Hudson Bay, Melfort, Nipawin, Wynyard and Yorkton were among the communities that made the list, and meteorologist Dan Fulton said temperatures in all of those areas were close to or higher than 30 C on Tuesday.

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“It was a hot day,” said Fulton. “The hottest place in Saskatchewan was a tie. Elbow was 31.9 C, and so was Moose Jaw.”

Fulton said the hot weather, which he called “quite unusual” for the final day of September, was due to a southerly airflow making its way into Saskatchewan over the last couple of days.

“It has brought some very warm air up from the United States – unseasonably warm air,” the meteorologist explained.

“The normal daytime highs around this time of year, for the Regina area as an example, are only around 15 C, and we were getting up to 30 C, so very warm.”

The heat records broken on Tuesday were:

• Elbow: 31.9 C (previous record was 30 C, set in 1992);
• Hudson Bay: 30 C (previous record was 28 C, set in 1992);
• Last Mountain Lake (Sanctuary): 30.1 C (previous record was 29 C, set in 1992);
• Lucky Lake: 31.2 C (previous record was 28.6 C, set in 2011);
• Melfort: 30.5 C (previous record was 28.5 C, set in 1992);
• Nipawin: 30.2 C (previous record was 29.1 C, set in 1992);
• Rockglen: 30.2 C (previous record was 26.7 C, set in 1973);
• Waskesiu Lake Area: 24.5 C (previous record was 24.4 C, set in 1970);
• Watrous: 31 C (previous record was 30.5 C, set in 1992);
• Wynyard: 30.3 C (previous record was 28.8 C, set in 1992); and
• Yorkton: 29.4 C (previous record was 28.9 C, set in 1963)

Both Regina and Saskatoon topped out around 30 C on Tuesday, though neither city broke a heat record.

The latest round of record-setting heat comes after more than a dozen heat records fell last week in Saskatchewan. But while the province has seen some very warm weather in recent days, Fulton said he doesn’t expect to see any more heat records toppled this year.

“I think that would be the last hurrah,” he said.

“I’m going to go with the law of averages here, and that it’s pretty rare to get them in October, but I guess never say never. I would say, though, that if it’s going to happen it’s probably going to have to happen pretty soon, because the average normal values are falling quite quickly as we kind of move towards winter.”

Fulton said cooler weather is expected in the days ahead, and temperatures could drop slightly below seasonal levels as the weekend approaches.