September is going to feel more like June at times this week. (file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Rob Mahon

Warm End To September

Warm me up when September ends: Upper ridge to bring sunshine, heat to Prairies

Sep 26, 2022 | 12:49 PM

For the rest of this week, Prince Albert and area will get the kind of warm, sunny days you probably associate with June rather than September.

Environment Canada forecasts a daytime high of at least 20 C every day for the next seven days. The peak of this early fall warmth comes Wednesday and Thursday, both of which are expected to see highs around 27 C.

“What we have is a pretty big pattern, what we call an upper ridge,” said Alysa Pederson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada. “What it does is it essentially brings in a lot of sunshine and a lot of heat. It will be predominantly affecting Alberta and much of Saskatchewan this week.”

Some places in southern Saskatchewan could even get above the 30 C mark, which is highly unusual, though not unheard of for fall. While things will start to cool off heading into the weekend, it won’t exactly be a sharp drop off.

“Ridges usually break down, but sometimes patterns like this can be so strong it takes a really long time for that,” Pederson said. “What we’re seeing is there is potential for a little bit of a weak system that’s going to move through Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan. We might see some rain as we go into Thursday and Friday, but that ridge looks to rebuild itself.”

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A rebuilt ridge means more days well above seasonal average temperatures. At the height of the ridge, we could be in for a daytime high nearly double the seasonal average of 14.4 C.

“Having heat like this at the end of September isn’t totally out of the question,” Pederson said. “In fact, last year, on September 28, so that would be Wednesday when we’re forecasting 27 C as the high, last year, we actually broke a record. It was 30.6 C.”

It will actually be warmer in the middle of this week than it was for quite a few weeks in the summer. With a slightly colder than normal summer behind us, Environment Canada was predicting we might make up for it with a warmer fall.

“Our outlook that was issued at the end of September did show an above-normal trend for the fall,” Pederson said. “That kind of goes over an entire month, or if you’re looking at the seasonal over a three-month period September, October, November, for fall. You could still have some periods of below normal, but predominantly it should be above normal.”

Pederson added with winter just around the corner, people should get out and enjoy the mini heat wave while we have it.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP