Saskatchewan Rivals The Driest Places On Earth This Spring!

At first, I knew it was a dry spring and when I read the latest numbers tweeted by Tiffany at Global News Regina, I was not surprised. Only 9.6mm fell in the city of Regina over the month of May.

A look at how little precipitation we have had this May, compared to last year and the normal. #YQR #Sask #SKstorm pic.twitter.com/1ZVomfutK0

— Tiffany Lizée (@TiffanyGlobal) June 2, 2015

Then today, I read a tweet from Peter at Global News in Saskatoon. Only 0.4mm fell in the city of Saskatoon during the month of May. I had to ask if this was a mistake and he meant centimeters.

Driest May ever recorded in #yxe. Exclusive summer outlook @GlobalSaskatoon EN6/NHF10 http://t.co/02scu148Fg #skstorm pic.twitter.com/CEePTHorK3

— Peter Quinlan (@PQuinlanGlobal) June 2, 2015

Nope! Here is the provided official climate data from Environment Canada:

Environment Canada Climate Data

After doing some checking of the driest places on Earth, I found the the Sahara Desert gets approximately 7mm of rain during the month of May. Among the listed driest places on Earth, Waidi Halfa, Sudan gets 2.4mm of rain annually while parts of Egypt, Libya, Chile and the Antarctic get even less to none!

The current long term forecast shows no major change to this dry trend in Saskatchewan. In fact, nothing of significance at all for at least 2 more weeks. People need to take this very seriously in Regina where the city is pleading with residents to cut back on water use. Sadly, with so many new and younger residents, they have no idea what a major drought can do here. Its been a long time since the last major drought but both the "Dirty 30s" and droughts in 1988 and 2000-03 (Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan:Drought) had devastating effects on the economy and living conditions, not only here but in a massive ripple down effect since Saskatchewan is still considered the "breadbasket of North America".

Tonight's Severe Weather Outlook Map

June 1st, 2015

Storms will continue moving east overnight along the Manitoba/North Dakota border. Hail, strong wind gusts and heavy rain are the main risks associated with these storms. Another larger system in Montana may touch the extreme southern border of Saskatchewan late tonight. On Tuesday, storms are expected to keep south of the international border with a possible risk of strong tornadoes in the Dakotas. Much needed rain for the city of Regina has once again missed us and water rationing by residents and businesses begins to ramp up as severe drought threatens the area.

Today's Severe Weather Outlook Map

June 1, 2015

Severe thunderstorms can be expected later today in south east Saskatchewan and along the Manitoba border into the evening. Hail, strong wind gust and heavy rain will be the main threats.

New Forecast Map: Version 2015

Here is our first map of the season with storm season right on track as we enter the month of June. Storms may persist overnight throughout areas of southern and central Saskatchewan, bringing a risk of small hail, gusty winds and heavy downpours. The risk moves east and south for the day tomorrow as this system begins to pick up steam and build toward the Dakotas, Monday and Tuesday.

*This latest version of the Experimental Forecast Map was re-built using the original format from 2012 by CorelDraw and can now be updated using the new "Fire Alpaca" software.
 (its always fun to try out new programs!)

Drought Continues! North Dakota Possibilities June 2nd?

The first real chance for severe thunderstorms on the northern plains looks to be June 2nd to 3rd however, current GFS (Global Forecast System) model suggests things will stay south of the US border. It shows that central North Dakota 'could' have severe weather including supercells that day with systems moving towards southern Manitoba on the 3rd. Earlier model runs showed storms possible in southern Saskatchewan on June 2nd as well, so things can easily shift. Personally, I have very little confidence our extremely dry pattern will change any time soon. A strong system in North Dakota could possibly feed some much needed moisture for future development later on around the 7th of June. Right now, looking at humidity and dew point levels, any convection is getting quickly sucked up by near drought conditions at the surface. 30% humidity does not equal thunderstorms of any kind in my books. Dry lightning and low precipitation, high based thunder clouds do not excite me. There is a better chance of severe drought and dust storms than anything else this year, maybe a grasshopper infestation?!