Hold onto your hats: Sask. windier than usual this summer

Wind has seemed like a constant unwanted house guest this spring and summer in Saskatchewan.

Many areas of the province, including Regina and Saskatoon, saw sustained wind speeds greater than climate normals for April, May, June and the first 24 days in July.

June, in particular, was well above normal when looking at average hourly wind speeds. Winds averaged nearly 21 km/h in Regina. That doesn't sound like much, but it is much higher than the climate hourly average of 18.3 km/h for that month.

Why so windy?

The set up in our atmosphere is to blame for the consistently windy weather. For much of the summer, the jet stream tracked directly over the province, bringing low pressure systems through central Saskatchewan.

Typically with low pressure systems, the largest precipitation events occur north of the storm system, which is why northern Saskatchewan has seen significant rain and snow amounts this spring and summer, whereas the south has been much drier.

This month, southern Saskatchewan has seen a few calmer days.

Despite those breaks, July remains above average so far in terms of hourly average wind speeds in Regina and Saskatoon.

How does this week look?

Monday and Tuesday were met with windy weather across most of Saskatchewan as another strong storm system rolled through from Alberta. That storm brought heavy rain to parts of northern and central Saskatchewan, including 112 mm of rain to Buffalo Narrows.

The wind should die down this week in most of the province.

Temperatures should climb towards 30 C yet again over the next couple of days, with sunshine and calm weather.

The best chance of rain in Saskatchewan will be Friday as another low pressure system develops in the north, but winds in the south should be relatively light until the end of July.