“Be ready”: The summer forecast for Alberta is out and it’s packing some heat

According to the most recent forecast from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Alberta will experience a warmer-than-usual summer this year.

That might be welcome news to some parts of the province, which recently saw some snowfall in their area mere days before the official start of summer.

The weather agency is forecasting above-normal temperatures for the province in its summer seasonal outlook, with the probability higher in the northern half of the province.

However, the chances of an above-average season are higher out east, while coastal BC and the Yukon are in for normal or below-average temperatures for the season.

And though it’s hard to tell so far, precipitation could be lower than usual in Alberta from June to August.

“There’s not really a clear signal for the summer season in terms of precipitation, Canadians need to be ready for a warmer summer that could be met with drier conditions,” said Jennifer Smith, a warning preparedness meteorologist with ECCC.

ECCC officials gave an update on their seasonal weather outlook earlier this month, sharing details on the country’s warming climate and how it contributes to costly extreme weather events.

They highlighted the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire as the most expensive environmental emergency to date and pointed to the May 2023 heatwaves in Alberta as another example of an extreme weather event made worse by human climate damage.

Since 1948, Canada’s summer temperatures have been increasing, and officials have no doubt that human contributions are playing a large role.

New wildfire smoke monitoring and event analysis rolling out

ECCC announced it will release an analysis on human contribution to heatwaves starting this summer. The event analysis will look at how likely a heat event would have been in the pre-industrial climate and estimate how much human activity contributed to that event happening.

The federal agency is also rolling out an improved smoke map for wildfire season, including Firework, a program that will predict wildfire smoke movement for the next 72 hours across the country.

Do you think Alberta’s summer forecast will pan out as predicted? Let us know in the comments below.

With files from Megan Devlin