Calgary temperature ties century-old record

Calgary's unseasonably warm weather tieda high-temperature record that wasmore than a century old.

On this day in 1910,the mercury in Calgary climbed to26.7 C, according to Environment Canada.

As of 2p.m. on Tuesday, temperatures at the Calgary International Airport were sitting at that same temperaturewith a forecast high of 28 C.

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Comparatively, the average temperature for April 19th is a mere 12.2 C.

This isn't the first time Calgary has been on track to break a temperature record this year. In February, the heat broke a 90-year-record.

The all-time high for April is 29.4 C, set on the 29th of the month in 1926.

The warm winter has translated into a warmer and drier spring, said Dave Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada.

"The last seven months have all been warmer than normal," he said, adding that the amount of precipitation in the last three months is about 17 per cent of what Calgary usually sees.

"It's almost that nature's forgotten how to rain and snow across the province," Phillips added.

Wildfire risk

Alberta has seen wildfires a month earlier than usual this year, and fire bans are in place across province.

"On the prairies, we saw the third-warmest [winter] in 70 years, the second-driest, and that's like a double whammy," said Phillips. "When you have that warm, warm air, it's going to evaporate and suck every bead of moisture out of the ground and when you're not adding to it, it just exacerbates the situation."

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Phillips said he expects the rest of spring and summer will remain warmer than usual.

Changing seasons

Phillips, a weather veteran, said weather in this part of the country seems to come in "extremes" lately.

"We have seen an abundance of warmer than normal seasons," he said.

"We're seeing the kind of incredible wild swings in weather where in one year you're seeing some of the worst flooding on record, and now some of the worst dry periods on record."

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