Despite the slight drop in temperature and chance of scattered showers today, Red Deer should finish the month under sunny skies and above average temperatures.
Environment Canada meteorologist John McIntyre said a cold front from the West Coast was scheduled to hit Red Deer today with cooler winds and a high of 17C.
But the sun should return on Wednesday, with a high of 16C, and continue to shine the rest of the week with temperatures of 21C on Thursday, 23C on Friday, 19C on Saturday and 21C on Sunday.
“I see a fantastic September,” said McIntyre on Monday.
He said so far this month, the city’s average day time high has been 21.1C with 18 mm of rain.
Last September, Red Deer averaged 21.7C and had 10 mm of rain.
Red Deer’s 30-year average for September is 17.1C with 46 mm of rain — and three cm of snow.
McIntyre said there’s no reason to worry.
“You haven’t had any snow this month. This cold front is coming from the Pacific, so it’s not a really cold one.”
The last time Red Deer had snow in September was 2004.
It has only dropped below zero once so far this month, overnight on Sept. 11 when it sunk to -1.
In September 2011, it fell below zero three times and the lowest temperature was -3.3C.
Higher than normal temperatures and below normal precipitation should continue for the most part in October and November.
McIntyre said now that it’s fall, the possibility exists that Red Deer might have an autumn heat wave, known as Indian summer.
To qualify, the temperature has to be considerably above normal and has to occur after a killing frost.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com