Mild winter in store according to pig spleen

The forecast this year is based on five spleens from the Earview Hutterite Colony south of Gull Lake. This winter looks like it will be more mild than last year.

The temperatures will tend to be above normal to normal for most months and there will be light persistent snow rather than the big snow events that we have seen in the last few years. In general, we will be on the edge of most weather systems rather than in them. One spleen from eastern Canada showed a significant departure from this trend, meaning that winter in the East will be much colder than what we will experience on the Prairies.  Again, the winter in southwestern Saskatchewan will be much warmer than the rest of the province and will see days with above-zero temperatures in the coldest months of the year. Fog days will be frequent. While these conditions should not cause a big spring melt in the Southwest, the rest of the province will have rainfall on top of a frozen, icy soil surface causing a lot of runoff on rain days. The spring will be wet with a few early rainfalls that will result in good soil moisture and good spring seeding conditions. May will be cool and wet, and a cool spring will persist in general. The first half of June will be generally wet, however the last half will be mostly dry so crops will look very good going into the summer.

January

The first part of January will be warmer than normal with temperatures between 0 and -10 C, however will soon turn cold in the first week with temperatures between -20 and -30 for about a week. There will be light intermittent snow that will accumulate on Jan. 1-2, and Jan. 6. After the cold, mid-month will be warmer than normal for at least a week. Some snow on Jan. 9 and 14. The end of the month will see a return to cold with a few days of -20 to -30 C, but will quickly dissipate and the end of the month will have temperatures that are normal to above normal.  There will be snow on Jan. 20 and Jan. 27.

February

The spleen shows a mild start to February and snow may disappear. Eastern Canada will see a much more severe winter so the groundhog will see his shadow meaning there will be six more weeks of winter. In the West, this is also true however the winter will not be severe. It will get colder between Feb. 7 and 15, but return to warmer temperatures by mid-month leading into a good Family Day on Feb. 16. There will be snow accompanying this colder period. Around the 15th there will be a bad day, but it will not persist. The last part of the month will be normal to above-normal, but again will flip-flop towards the end of the month with intermittent snow.

March

March does not show anything out of the ordinary with temperatures normal to above-normal for the first part of the month. There will be more constant, but light snow up until Jan. 10, with most falling on March 2 or 3. This could be rain. Mid-month the temperatures will dip and there will be a colder than average period.  March 13 will be a significant day for weather. There will be no significant snow for the remainder of the month.  The end of the month will be warm going into April.

April

The first week in April will be warm with precipitation over on April 2 to 4 including Good Friday and more over Easter starting around the 8th and lasting for about 10 days, and again on April 20. This will mark the start of a more rainy period that will persist. April 27 is a significant day in general, but difficult to predict the particular event – weather or other. The end of the month will be cooler than normal until April 30 when it will start to warm up again.

May

The first week in May will be wet with rain and fog and the temperatures all month will be below normal, and progressively getting cooler. The dampness and cold will progress all month long with events starting after Victoria Day on May 21 and a significant rainfall event on May 27 and lasting a few days until the end of the month, and into June. The end of the month will also see a cold spell lasting two or three days.

June

The start of June will see a significant warming trend starting at the beginning of the month and lasting all month. There will be intermittent rain at the beginning of the month, ending between June 10 and 15. After this, the rest of the month will be warm and relatively dry.

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