The weather during the 2019 Christmas season was amazingly moderate and pleasant for Saskatchewan, especially here in the east central region.
New Year’s Eve was also relatively pleasant.
I keep track of New Year’s Eve for one particular reason. “Back in the day,” I went into labour on New Year’s Eve, and gave birth to Number One roughly 24 hours later on New Year’s Day. Depending on my mood, it seems like yesterday, or maybe not.
What I do recall, ever so vividly, was the weather on that December-turning-January night. It was cold. It was bone-chilling, finger-freezing, battery-killing cold, and neither of the two vehicles, one of which was to have transported me to the hospital, would start. The cold had even sucked all the available air from one of the slightly bald tires, and the pains of labour seemed to obliterate my ability to think clearly.
Luckily, a boost successfully got one vehicle running. The rest is more blurry than clear, but the memory of the lengthy labour becomes vivid every New Year’s Eve.
To be honest, ringing in the New Year in Saskatchewan is usually a brutally cold undertaking. We turn to the weather forecast to give hints on the prevailing weather trends. These forecasts can be somewhat inaccurate from time to time.
Some folks tune into the radio or TV, some rely on the Farmer’s Almanac, some go to Internet websites and some rely on the Pig Spleen. Yes, that is correct. The Pig Spleen Forecast is alive and well in Saskatchewan,
I found a website on the Internet that says predicting weather in Saskatchewan using pig spleens is a thing in Saskatchewan. Wade Gilbertson of Parkside, west of Prince Albert, is one fellow who does such predictions. For 2020 he has examined the spleens from three outdoor pigs to make the forecast.
He has been honing his skills for 24 years and claims a 75 per cent accuracy rate.
So here it is: January, February and March: there will be cold and warm swings in the temperature with significant snow events. April, May: not much moisture. June: mostly dry with some rain at the end of June but overall a rather cool month.
The start of this winter will be up and down in temperature.
The month of November will start off cold with little snow. The middle of the month will be warm while going into December will cool back off again.
The month of December will start off cold and will gradually warm-up again and stay warm with some snow or rain, it will be that warm. The temperature will start to cool off after the 28th of December.
Going into January the temperature will be average with little snow. In the middle of the month it will warm up again for a short time.
Then going forward into the end of January it will start to get cold and stay cold.
The month of February will be average or below average temperatures with very little snow.
The month of March will start off cold and will gradually warm up by the middle of the month with average temperatures. This will bring a significant amount of snow. The temperature will gradually cool back off and stay cold going into April.
The month of April will be cold once again and stay cold with very little precipitation.
As spring moves into the end of April, beginning of May, it will warm up. Spring will be warmer this year than the past two years, he concluded.
There is no Pig Spleen Forecast for summer months. It will be interesting to find out whether this forecast is any more accurate than others.
