A soggy first half of June could be a harbinger of things to come according to The Weather Network’s 2020 Summer Report. According to the report released Monday, an active storm track could bring above-normal levels of rainfall into the Peace Country, and with them, a cooler start and finish to the season.
Meteorologist Doug Gillham says, while it’s hard to pinpoint where the exact storm track will be, signs are pointing towards more rain and storms in the short term. He adds the long term forecast likely isn’t music to the ears of those in the agriculture sector.
“You could just miss out on the storm track, but it does, at this point look like near to above normal [amounts of] precipitation,” he says. “Not probably what a lot of people wanted to hear, although, we still think there will be stretches of nice solid summer weather.”
However, the wet weather in the region could help the Grande Prairie area when it comes to air quality. Gillham says the key will come from what happens on the British Columbia side of the border, but signs are pointing to a less extreme fire season, at least where Mother Nature is concerned.
“You can also have unfortunately human error with setting a fire and have one get out of control even though the weather conditions might not be that, but overall in terms of air quality it doesn’t look like a bad summer.”
June is traditionally the wettest month of the year in Grande Prairie, with a 10-year average of 90.27 millimetres.