March Mixture

FTLComm - Tisdale - Tuesday, March 5, 2002

March has the potential to bring some pretty extreme weather conditions and after one of the warmest winters on record March 2002 has given us some the coldest weather of the year. Last night the thermometer was showing -30 during the night and did not do much better when the sun climbed into a nearly clear sky. Regina was -16 this morning and -32 in LaRonge while heavy snowfall warnings for the parched Southwest of the

province. These pictures were taken yesterday. The one above shows the scene at 10:00 in the morning and 3:00 in the afternoon. With longer duration of sunlight each day the clear skies allow things to warm up considerably but that warming stimulates air flow and we have been experiencing some strong winds over this past week. The first day of spring arrives sixteen days from today when the sun slips North of the Equator and we have from then

on more light than darkness each day. The jet stream high above us is whistling along on its traditional winter pathway and between here and the US border is the edge of the arctic air, that quasi-stationary front that marks the dividing line between climatic conditions. Each day with the sun, it is creeping North and warm damp air masses to the South collide with this frigid air to produce a storm or two but mostly we hope to see some precipitation