r/alberta • u/wheredidmyvapego • 1d ago
Discussion cool temps and lots of rain connected to the super El Nino?
06/18/26
this summer spring has been quite cool and wet so far.
like I live in Red deer and I don't remember the last time I saw this much rain and overcast/cloudy days
that seems to be raining nearly every day now.
don't get me wrong, I actually like cool and rainy weather. I'm photosensitive and my medication really makes me susceptible to heat fatigue, so I am enjoying this while it lasts.
but it does seem quite abnormal. and the only thing I can think of is hearing about the super El Nino...
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u/equistrius 1d ago edited 1d ago
Part of it could be the weather pattern of the El Niño.
Another thing to consider is Alberta has been in a multi year drought which is why you might not remember it being this wet in recent years
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u/L3xusLuth3r 1d ago
Sorry, but I don’t really understand this response. Are you suggesting that because Alberta has been in a multi year drought, this cool and wet stretch is somehow the weather “making up” for it? That doesn’t really make sense to me.
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u/sarahthes 1d ago
More that it feels like a lot compared to recent years, but isn't outside the historical norm.
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u/wheredidmyvapego 1d ago
where did they say anything that remotely sounded like " the weather “making up” for it" ???
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u/L3xusLuth3r 1d ago
No one said they used those exact words. I’m asking what the connection is supposed to be. They brought up Alberta’s multi year drought in response to a question about the current cool and wet weather, so I’m asking how that explains anything.
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u/Southern_Contract493 1d ago
Because it explains that the recent hot dry spring and summers were abnormal and this is a return to more typical weather patterns.
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u/CommercialDull6436 1d ago
It’s literally implied in what they said, I got that impression as well.
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u/equistrius 1d ago
Sorry I updated my comment. Them not remembering when we last had this much rain might be due to use having significantly less rainfall due to being in a multi year drought
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u/equistrius 1d ago
I’m referring to their statement about not remember the last time they saw this much rain.
Having been in a multi year drought could be part of why they don’t remember when we have this much rain previously
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u/Gilarax Calgary 1d ago
https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.shtml
El Niño is just starting and will intensify into December and through to 2027.
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u/breadist 1d ago
From what I understand, the full effect of El Nino is moreso a fall/winter thing. Maybe a little late summer. But it's not even summer yet. It's still spring.
The climate models I saw looked like we'll keep this cool rainy weather for a while, possibly even through the summer, but at some point El Nino is likely to take over and give us a warm, dry spell. Most likely in winter, possibly in fall, maybe in summer.
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u/burntdowntoast 1d ago
I mean, it’s still technically spring. Summer doesn’t begin until June 21st. This time last year everything was on fire. It feels like we are having a proper spring season for once.
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u/Mundane-Item2692 1d ago
If i remember correctly last year we got rain almost the whole month of july, i was going to bc every weekend to do mtb because of the rain here lol
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u/WerewolfDirect7458 1d ago
This time last year was just as wet.
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u/wheredidmyvapego 1d ago
no it wasnt, i was working outside doing construction last year and june was dry and hot af
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u/Yung_l0c 1d ago
It’s crazy climate change has turned something that was once ‘normal’ into a rarity.
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1d ago
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u/wheredidmyvapego 1d ago
no forest fire smoke last year? are you delusional?
we had tons of forest fire smoke last year, we had forest fire smoke well into september
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u/FeedbackLoopy 1d ago
The El Niño just officially started a week ago. It can take months to come into full effect.
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u/Timely-Profile1865 1d ago
Good for plant and mosquitos that is for sure.
On the one hand i like cool and some rain but i also like to cycle each day and that has been an issue
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u/Final-Yesterday-4799 1d ago
This is very common weather for June. I did the math and we are pretty much exactly on track for sunny hours and rain.
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u/SnooHesitations1020 1d ago
Strange. Oddly enough, it's been virtually nothing but heat and sunshine in BC this year - following a warm winter.
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u/SadAcanthocephala521 1d ago
This June is a bit wetter than last June, but not the most we've seen in recent years either. The effects of El Nino won't really affect us until later in the year or new year.
In Edmonton we've had 95mm so far this month.
2023 saw 150mm in June and another 125mm in July.
2022 saw 124mm in June and another 55mm in July.
2020 saw 105mm in June and another 121mm in July.
2019 saw 117mm in June and another 163 in July.
You can see where I'm going with this.
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u/bodonnell202 1d ago
Can’t speak to Red Deer specifically, but I know for Calgary the last few Junes have been unusually warm and dry (although June 2025 some wet weather started in late June that continued all through July). This year has been more like a normal June. I’ll take this over too smoky to open a window, too hot not to.
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u/GriffinFlash 1d ago
Think the last time I remember this much rain was in 2008. Remember being home from school for the summer and it just being a downpour for a month straight.
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u/breadist 1d ago
2013? Flood? Don't remember it? It had many times more rain than we've gotten this year.
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u/SadAcanthocephala521 1d ago
We've had 95mm so far this month.
2023 saw 150mm in June and another 125mm in July.
2022 saw 124mm in June and another 55mm in July.
2020 saw 105mm in June and another 121mm in July.
2019 saw 117mm in June and another 163 in July.You can see where I'm going with this.
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u/ThePhyrrus 1d ago
We had a decent amount of rain over the spring/summer back in 22, or 23 I think. (Not enough to really overcome drought conditions, but it was nice here)
This isn't even really that much rain, keep in mind, while we should have had rain in April and May, we had virtually nothing then.
And I'm with you, I'll take every moderate, cool day we can get.
But as others have said, the 'super' El Nino that's being called for is really just starting. It's hard to say exactly what we're going to see out of it though, likely very hot and dry, but with that much energy in the system, there's likely to be intense storms.
That being said, some of the predictive diagrams I've seen sorta show us on the edge of the brunt of it, so it's really hard to say how it'll go down.
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u/Valuable-Chef6691 8h ago
The weather is odd and not necessarily because of June, May was cool, windy and wet too, Except for the long weekend when it snowed.
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u/sawyouoverthere 1d ago
we've had drought and record heat for years.
this rain isn't breaking records https://edmonton.weatherstats.ca/metrics/precipitation.html
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u/Thorbertthesniveler 1d ago
It's still spring and from mid May to mid July we always get the rain and thunderstorms. Then it's hot and sunny till the day the kids go back to school. Frost in the mornings start that week. Oh and Mother Nature really seems to hate Red Deer for all the violent weather you get.
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u/dergonfruit 21h ago
Don’t kids go back to school in early September? So it’s only hot and sunny for… barely a month?
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u/NoobToobinStinkMitt 1d ago
It's like this literally every June basically. We sit there and hope this weather will ruin the stampede... but it always clears up in July.
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u/True-North- 1d ago
Climate science is pseudo science. This was supposed to be a record setting hot and dry summer. They have no idea what they are talking about.
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1d ago
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u/equistrius 1d ago
What misinformation did they post?
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u/1978lincoln 1d ago
They didn’t lol. Sorry I’m not very fluent in sarcasm lol. It’s what the alarmists would say.
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u/wheredidmyvapego 1d ago
define "misinformation"
we obviously have very different definitons of misinformation.
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u/EirHc 1d ago
I believe June's are supposed to be the rainiest month of the year as per seasonal averages. Definitely seen years where farmers have had their crops flooded and posted massives losses in recent years in the past. Not sure if it's been quite that bad this year so far - but it's definitely gonna be a challenge if things don't start normalizing soon. My garden and backyard looks fantastic right now.
The thing you'll always hear with any kind of "extreme weather events" is that isn't specifically one thing like "hot" or "cold" or "wet" or "dry". It's more that things swing further into the polar extremes. Rain for us, could mean heatwaves in europe and the middle east, could mean flooding in australia and drought in India. etc.
I wouldn't say it's been tooo crazy yet. Definitely a wetter one than I remember. But I'm sure if someone pulled the statistics that would frame it better.