July forecast: warm weather on the way, but prepare for severe storms
After a soggy June, Alberta gets more typical summer conditions — but peak season for hail, heavy rain and tornadoes starts now.
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June has been a pretty soggy month across Alberta, but July is expected to finally return the province to more typical summer weather.
Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor says that while summer weather is on the way, Albertans will need to hold out just a little longer. "As we move through the end of June into the first week of July, it looks like things are going to remain somewhat cool and unsettled for much of the province," Proctor said.
However, later in the month, July is expected to bring warmer-than-normal temperatures and drier conditions as the first full week ends and more typical summer weather begins to settle in. "Further into July, it does look like it's going to be sort of trending warmer than normal as we start to get into a much, much more typical summer weather."
But Albertans should also prepare for the province's most active period for severe weather. "One thing to keep in mind is that July tends to be our peak month for summer severe weather," Proctor said. Risk of severe thunderstorms, heavy downpours, large hail and even tornadoes tends to be at its highest during this month. "It's really important to keep an eye out on the sky, see what's going on, and to listen for updated watches and warnings."
The outlook comes after an exceptionally wet June. Edmonton, in particular, saw record-breaking rainfall, recording roughly 260 millimetres of precipitation as of June 28 — surpassing the previous June record of 216.5 millimetres set in 1914.
