Weatherman predicts hot, dry summer
Published in The Calgary Herald on May 29, 2009
CALGARY - It's going to be a hot, dry summer in Alberta, The Weather Network predicts, and that's great news to the millions of Albertans worn from an extended winter, and bad news for the hundreds of farmers who need precipitation for their crops.
The network expects a fairly typical summer for our province, stretches of warm days interrupted by occasional cold spells and thunderstorms. But the Prairies have the potential for drier-than-normal conditions, and northern Alberta will have above-normal temperatures.
"What we see in Alberta typically are stretches of heat for a few days and then things cool down," said meteorologist Chris Scott. "So expect those days where it's going to be hot and you're going to wish you had a pool, but also expect those chilly nights you get in the Prairies when the sun goes down. With the ups and downs, we'll average out to normal."
Normal sounds pretty good to the ice cream man. "Hot weather is great for us. We've been busy since the May long week-end," said Joseph Yoon, owner of My Favourite Ice Cream Shoppe in Marda Loop. "Nobody wants ice cream in cold weather, so this is absolutely good news for us. It's going to be a hectic summer."
Ismet Ozkan, owner of Red Mile Ice Cream on 17th Avenue S. W., agreed: "The heat is good."
A warm forecast bodes well for the nearly two dozen golf courses dotted around the city, and municipal golf courses spokeswoman April Tanner says nothing sells tee times like the promise of sunshine.
"We're a business entirely dependent on the weather, and when the weather is good, as it has been this week, tee times are booked up back-to-back,"she said. "When the weather's bad, you can literally shoot a cannon through our courses. And we can't make up those dates because there's a very limited season for golf in Calgary."
But what's ideal for the greens isn't ideal for crops.
Ralph Wright, head of the soil moisture unit at Alberta Agriculture, said farmers may face a challenge if the forecast proves true, since there is already a low amount of moisture in the soil.
"What we're hoping for is normal or above-normal precipitation in June and July, because we didn't get it in May,"he said. "May's been a below-normal month. What this means is farmers are more reliant this year on well-timed precipitation amounts, because we already have a deficit of soil moisture.
"The soil moisture content is basically a bank account that you can draw from to withstand the hot dry weather that may come--and it's not there. Couple that with the forecast of a hot, dry summer, and it's not a pretty picture."
A hot, dry summer may also lead to more hailstorms and brush fires.
"Hail is a big problem, and a major hailstorm is one of the greatest threats to Calgarians in terms of damage to property," Scott said.
"Even if the forecast for the summer seems benign, on any given day, you could still have a rip-roaring storm that could cause damage."
But Scott said farmers and other Albertans needn't worry just yet.
"With these seasonal forecasts, they're much more tricky than a next-day forecast," he said.
"We're detectives in meteorology, and we're looking for clues, and often those clues are a lot harder to find and don't give us the exact answer. . . . We're going to have a typical Canadian summer. And you better enjoy it, coz winter's just around the corner."
