Saskatoon had one of its wettest Junes in more than 100 years
After successive summers of drought and smoke from forest fires across many parts of Saskatchewan in recent years, those longing for rain got plenty of it last month.
According to Environment Canada, June was wetter and colder than many in recent memory with an average temperature nearly two degrees lower than historical norms and nearly twice as much rain than the 30-year average.
"We finally have a June that I think we're more used to," Environment Canada meteorologist Terri Lang said. "And this is kind of what it's supposed to be like --rainy, a little bit on the cool side, thunderstorms, funnel clouds."
Saskatoon recorded an average temperature of 13.9C compared to a 30-year average of 15.8C, making it the 19th coldest June in 127 years of record.
The city also received 112.2 mm ( or 4.4 inches) of precipitation compared to a 30-year average of 65.8 mm, which is 171 per cent of average precipitation, making it the 18th wettest June in 129 years of record keeping.
The rain kept falling until the month's final moments.
Legends Golf Course north of Saskatoon and Pike Lake Provincial Park south of Saskatoon spent the long weekend pumping water away from problematic areas as many parts became submerged underwater.
Rain Thursday afternoon continuing through Friday morning left parts of Pike Lake's campsite under three to four inches of water.
"It was a little bit of, of a shocker, coming from the city to the park that day," park manager Chris Honig said.
"We soon realized that we had some localized flooding in some of the campsites."
Honig said 40 campsites were closed and made unavailable. With the park fully booked for the long weekend, campers were warned ahead of time not to make the trip because there was nowhere else for them to go.
"Cross our fingers if we don't get any more rain. We should be good for the next little while," he said.
The Legends Golf Course took to social media throughout the weekend to keep golfers updated on the conditions. The course was closed on Friday as water submerged multiple holes. The course reopened on Saturday with some restrictions, and even as of Tuesday, there were workarounds in place to prevent damage to the water-soaked course.
All in all, a post on Facebook said crews pumped more than 9 million gallons of water off of the course throughout the weekend.
"People have been wanting rain for the longest time. There's been so much discussion about it and people pining for it, and now we get it, now people are complaining about the rain," Lang said.
Honig says thanks to the quick work of his staff, there were little disruptions throughout the rest of the weekend as more than 650 people took part in various organized activities and Canada Day celebrations at the park.
"Whether we get wind storms or hail or large rain events, we get pretty good at being able to pivot and come up with a game plan to still provide great service to our guests that are coming out," he said.
As for July, Lang said it's hard to predict if it will be similar to June of this year or the Junes of recent years.
"July does tend to be a little bit, drier and a little bit warmer," Lang said.
But with plenty of water on the ground, in addition to growing plant life and crops, there is more available moisture in the air.
"It's called evapotranspiration. And so all of that moisture is around to be put in back into the atmosphere, to be used for later storms," Lang said.
"So we actually probably will continue to see, storms, until the crops mature."
Lang said hot stretches of weather are still likely in July as golfers and campers alike will be hoping for a July that keeps them dry. However, like any summer in Saskatchewan, the weather will be hard to predict.
"Mother nature is going to do what she's going to do," Lang said.
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