Last year's noticeable increase of extreme summer weather, including 10 days of tornado activity and funnel clouds in addition to torrential rains, had everyone wondering what was in store for this year.
So far, our area has escaped the most serious wrath of Mother Nature; however other parts of the province haven't been as fortunate. This year, it appears Â鶹´«Ã½AVern and Â鶹´«Ã½AVeastern Saskatchewan is in the track line for continuous severe weather.
July 15 saw a deluge of Twitter feeds, live streaming, weather warnings and Facebook postings about the "Oklahoma-like" storms and tornado activity predicted for Saskatchewan. Thankfully, although some tornados did touch the ground, the province eluded the worst of it.
Residents always wonder what's next when it comes to this crazy weather.
Tornado season typically is recognized as being anywhere from early June to mid-August. People nowadays have the fortune of having advanced weather warning systems foretelling of impending bad weather. Although some recent reports were criticized for being too extreme or frightening when the weather didn't pan out into the disastrous conditions being predicted, we are still fortunate to have these advance warnings that enable us to prepare for whatever conditions may arise.
Talking to a couple of groups of my favourite "coffee college" experts, they all agreed on one thing - the weather patterns have changed. However, some important facts arose during our conversation.
As long-time or lifetime residents of the area, they have seen the weather come and go in cycles. For example, the winter of 1955 was brought up many times during the extended, harsh winter we experienced this past year. Some of these gents believe we also had severe weather in the '50s, most notably a twister was recalled from 1952.
The big difference now is we are flooded with news reports of impending bad weather. Most notable are those reports coming from the weather channels. One chap reminded me it is their business to report on the weather so naturally they will recount many times those extreme weather instances as that's what draws people to their stations. Because, as he said, "let's face it, no one wants to tune in every day just to hear about sunshine and roses."
Back in the days before the weather channels became our main source of forecasting, people used to read the clouds and watch how they would build up. They knew the wind patterns of the prairies and could instantly tell when a change was felt. Or they would recognize the change in animal activity such as cattle, or farm dogs. People were more perceptive of incoming storms because they had to be in order to protect their property and families.
Not one of the respondents to my questions could pinpoint a cause for the change in weather patterns but various theories and opinions came about including that the '50s weather cycle is back or that our atmosphere has been compromised from air travel, rocket launches and pollution.
In essence, whether you agree with their wisdom or have your own opinion, there is common consensus that we are hearing more of extreme weather, experiencing more extreme weather or a little bit of both. The long and short of it comes in the form of wisdom expressed to me by one individual during this weather-related question period, "Hope for the best, be prepared for the worst." That is how their family survived storm season on the prairies when he was growing up.
There are numerous websites that can detail precautions to take in bad weather. Again, one of my respondents reminded me, "common sense is a strong ally when bad weather blows in. If you aren't looking to run an experiment, don't fly a kite in a lightning storm!"
