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GP weather: Hey summer, did you forget about us?

Aug 29, 2019 | 11:22 AM

According to Environment Canada, Grande Prairie basically only had one week of summer.

There were only seven days in June, July and so far this August where it got above 25 degrees.

“Typically in a summer in Alberta we get a ridge of high pressure that gives us several days of really warm, nice temperatures in the high 20’s, even low 30’s and that’s what was really missing was this ridge of high pressure giving several days of nice weather,” explained Kyle Fougere, Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

To compare, last summer Grande Prairie had 27 days that got hotter than 25 degrees.

It was only the fourth time in the past 20 years that we have had a summer that was below average, the last time was in 2011.

“When we look at the average temperatures, we look at the highs and the lows and we average them throughout the months of June, July and August. Going back through our records through 1931, the average for the summer temperature would be 15 degrees (averaging the highs and lows). June was an average of 13.7 degrees this year, July was 15.6, and August so far has been 13.7.”

Precipitation was 22 mm above average this summer. Grande Prairie received 217 mm of rain in June, July and August, compared to the average 195 mm.

Fougere says we can expect the high to be around 19 degrees for the first week of September, which is about average for the city for this time of year.

When speaking to locals about the recent weather, many have tried to remain positive saying, at least it wasn’t smoky.