Three Sask. communities had their hottest July on record this year

July was hot and dry in Saskatchewan, according to weather data assembled by Weatherlogics.

Weatherlogics uses data from government weather stations and then compiles and analyzes it.

Scott Kehler, president and chief scientist at Weatherlogics, said Hudson Bay, Last Mountainand Wynyard had thehottest Julyon record for those communities, and it's causing trouble for crops.

"When you're getting into the top one or two record years for heat or dryness, especially when they're happening at the same time, it really highlights the the drought situation that farmers are facing right now," he said in an interview.

Melfort, Nipawin, Pilger and Prince Albert had thedriest Julyon record respectively this year.

Though residents have been feeling the heat this summer, Kehler said winters are where the warming trend is more obvious.

"The last few years, have definitely been warmer years on the prairies in summer. But if we look back over longer periods of time, like 30, 50 or 100 years, those trends aren't quite as obvious," he said.

"We're still not entirely sure what all the trends might be for future prairie [summers]."

One change that has happened over timeis that grasslands have become crops in Saskatchewan. Kehler said this can cause a different thunderstorm pattern. Grasslands give off more consistent humidity for a longer period of time, while crops give off more dramatic levels for a shorter period of time, he said.

"However, there's also other types of weather patterns that produce rain on the prairies too. Just general weather systems, which tend to go through cycles, you know, 10 to 20 years ... of wetter weather from low pressure systems and then 10 or 20 years of drier weather," he said.

"And it seems now we're at least a few years in some areas even longer into this drier type of weather, which has created drought conditions in many parts of the prairies."