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The average precipitation is 384mm, or 15.1 inches annually.  With the average rainfall at 287mm(11.3 inches), and the average snowfall around 116mm(4.5 inches).  Saskatchewan can be a very windy place, it usually depends what day or
season it is.  The average wind speed in the northern half is 22km/h, and the average speed it the southern half is 10km/h.

              There has been a number of natural disasters that have hit Saskatchewan that have happened in Saskatchewan, including the Regina Tornado, and the Depression.  Here are the few others.

February 8, 1947:  In southern Saskatchewan, a series of blizzards hit on January 30, and lasted ten days, and for that time all highways in and out of Regina were closed.  Railway officials declared it the worst conditions in Canadian railway history.  In
fact one train laid buried in a snowdrift on a kilometer long, and eight meters deep!

1961-  Saskatchewan only received forty five percent of the precipitation.  In wheat production alone it costed $668 million, which was thirty percent more than in 1936!

July 4, 1996-  Saskatoon, Maymont, and Osler Saskatchewan was struck by a severe weather outbreak.  It had produced an estimated nine tornadoes, and extremely high plow winds.  Power lines, homes, and property were struck by a F3 tornado.  Winds reached anywhere from 120km/h to 141km/h.  During this time hail had fallen, including
Canada's largest hailstone on record, was the size of a softball!

1997 and 1999:  In southern Saskatchewan, there was a series of spring flooding.  Many people were forced to flee there homes, and in 1999, thousands of acres of land were kept out of production, as a result of the flooding.

October 12, 1998:  In Saskatoon, 75 city workers had to trim trees, following a
huge Thanksgiving blizzard.  It had damaged 3000, of the cities 90,000 trees.  The heavy wet snow, caused still leaved branches to break.

October 31, 1999:  There was several centimeters of snow, and winds reached
70km/h to 110km/h in some parts of Saskatchewan.  Wind knocked over trees, tore off siding and eaves troughs, blew over signs, and even moved parked vehicles.

December 27 & 28, 1999:  In Saskatoon, a skating rink sprouted grass, as temperatures hit seven point eight degrees Celsius. During that time, Alberta was hitting twenty point six degrees Celsius, and was even hotter than some parts in Mexico.  Even trees sprouted leaves!

July 3, 2000:  330mm of rain fell on Vanguard, Saskatchewan, in an eight hour period.  Roads were impassable, and there had been significant property damage in town and on surrounding farmland.

That is a lot of storms, and there are some amazing facts too.  Of course that isn't all the extreme weather and storms in this report, that would be to many.


The Regina Tornado was an amazing cyclone, it is one of Saskatchewan’s most spectacular, and devastating disasters to hit Saskatchewan.  The Regina Tornado happened on June 30, 1912 at around 4:50pm.  Within three minutes, the cyclone left 28 people dead, injured 200, left 2500 homeless, 500 buildings destroyed.  The total
damage was estimated at four to five million dollars. The repairs took 46 years to pay off!  Immediately after the disaster, crews helped survivors clean up. All telephone, and telegraph lines were knocked down, but reconnected an hour later.  Power was restored by 9:00pm, and there were few reports of looting or violence.  The Regina Tornado is one of the top six most famous disasters in Canada.  It is the most severe tornado to hit Canada so far, rated as a F4 tornado, with winds from 330 to 416
kilometers per hour.

The Depression was a huge part of Saskatchewan’s history, not only did it happen in Saskatchewan, but many other places around North America.  The land was so worked up, and fine, it just blew away, which created dust storms that lasted for days.  You could look outside, and a huge cloud of dust would be coming for you, and when it hit, you could barely see twenty feet ahead of you. The Depression was a very hard time for people and the economy.  It was also very dirty, hence the name “the dirty 30's”.  Grasshoppers were a big problem during this time, because they would come in swarms, and every bit of vegetation around you would be gone as soon as the grasshoppers were.  People had abandoned there houses, in fact in 1936 alone, 12831 farmhouses were abandoned. Animals such as horses were being fed a mixture of straw, wheat, and molasses, and many would starve to death.  200 pound pigs were selling  for three dollars a piece, oats eight cents a bushel, and to get them threshed was
five, eggs five cents a dozen, and cream twelve cents a pound.  The key economic
factor was deflation, a major decline in prices, for a whole range of goods.  Excess production led to falling prices, banks lent out less money, and deficits were in part of the cost of  keeping drought stricken farmers alive. Since the workers only got paid only five dollars a month.  At one time during this period, natives decided to do an illegal rain dance, and fortunately after that, all of southern Saskatchewan was drenched in rain for two days.

Year       Acres            Yield        Production      Value of wheat sold on farms
1928     13,791,000    23.3         321,215,000            $218,000,000
1929     14,445,000    11.1         160,565,000            $134,932,000
1930     14,714,000    14            206,700,000            $72,293,000
1931     15,026,000     8.8          132,466,000            $44,407,000
1932     15,543,000    13.6         211,551,000            $56,889,000
1933     14,743,000     8.7          128,004,000            $52,301,000
1934     13,262,000     8.6          114,200,000            $57,950,000
1935     13,206,000    10.8         142,198,000            $68,400,000
1936     14,596,000     8             110,000,000            $81,000,000
1937     13,893,000     2.7          37,000,000              $16,000,000




There are many man-made factors that affect Saskatchewan’s climate.  The main factor is fossil fuel extraction, and burning fossil fuels, such as driving your vehicle.  Large hydro projects flood land, often where aboriginal people live.  Nuclear energy, and uranium mining create long- lived, very hazardous wastes.  Greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and soil cultivation contribute to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions also cause smog.  Water, vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, methane, and nitrous oxide create a natural, delicately balanced greenhouse effect.  With all the carbon dioxide being released, it makes it unbalanced.  The worlds climate is changing, and by the end of the century, we will see a rise of several degrees in average global temperatures.  In Saskatchewan, this is likely to mean; longer more frequent droughts, reduced river flows as the glaciers which feed our rivers shrink, erratic rain fall with
more frequent and more serious flooding, loss of at least the southern part of the boreal forest.  Saskatchewan’s forests are depleting faster than being renewed. Saskatchewan is one of the last most beautiful places in the world, so please keep it that way.  Otherwise your children may suffer with horrible, disastrous weather.



Saskatchewan’s weather is quite amazing. I think it is pretty cool, because we have all four seasons, and we experience extremely cold, and hot weather.  We
have marvelous weather, and I don’t think it should be forgotten as a part of
our heritage.