Wobbling jet stream responsible for wild temperature swings in Saskatoon, meteorologist says

Much of Saskatchewan has been dealing with inconsistent temperatures in 2022 and according to Environment and Climate Change Canada, it’s because of a jet stream sitting smack dab in the middle of the province.

“The jet stream delineates the warm air to the south and the cold air to the north,” said meteorologist Terri Lang.

“In the southwest part of Saskatchewan, they're having wild conditions whereas in the north it's colder.”

Lang says a wobbling jet stream causes different weather patterns.

“When it wobbles a little bit farther to the northeast, we get into the milder air like what happened over the last couple days, but then as another weather system moves through, it pulls the jet stream a little bit further south and we get into the colder air again,” she said.

While freezing and thawing can lead to mucky conditions outside, Centennial Plumbing installation manager Paul Trimble says it can also play a factor inside the home.

“We see a trend as the weather warms up, water heaters leaking,” he said. “As they start to approach 10 years of age, as the weather warms up, there must be some kind of association with pressure change and our call volume increases on leaky water heaters.”

A 20-year veteran of the plumbing industry, Trimble says the temperature swings can also cause ice dams and water leakage.

“Above the top floor of your house you've got a vapour barrier between the home and the attic which should keep moisture from the house out of the attic,” he said.

“Bathroom fans are one area that it seems to be easy for moisture to get past and into the attic. When moisture gets in the attic in the cold weather it freezes and condenses, so the frost that ends up in the attic of course melts as the weather warms up, water drips down into the attic and just finds a path back into the home, and typically it's around bath fans or attic access points, sometimes light fixtures.”

Trimble says if you see ice hanging off the side of your roof, it’s wise to get your attic checked and have some insulation added.

“Heat from the home is able to get into the attic, warming the roof and melting snow that's up on the roof,” he said. “It's happening when it's quite cold out.”

“As it warms up you'll probably notice that there may be a danger of some of that ice coming off the edge of the roof, but basically what happens [is] snow melts from the main portion of the roof, runs down to the edge of the roof where it's overhanging the house and no longer overtop of the home.”

Trimble says rapidly rising and falling temperatures don’t generally lead to burst pipes in the home, and a City of Saskatoon email says the same is true for water main bursts.

“Extreme cold pushes the frost deeper, which can increase the strain on the water distribution system,” the email said.

“So the cold/mild temperature swings we’ve been seeing don’t particularly factor into things, it’s more the long periods of sustained extreme cold that can be the culprit.”

The city says there have been 29 water main breaks in the first three weeks of January, which is slightly above average.

Lang says to expect to see the temperature swings into February, which should be colder than average with higher than average precipitation.

“Last February was excessively cold and that's when the jet stream plunged way south and we really got into that really cold polar air,” she said.

“We might be in for that again for February. It's typical for La Nina winter to have colder than average temperatures especially later in the season like later in the winter.”