Sunshine and sweltering heat are the name of the game this summer in Winnipeg.  Barring any precipitation before midnight tonight, Winnipeg will set a new record for the driest July.

An official map showing a 30-day total departure from average precipitation valid from June 29, 2011 to July 28, 2011.  The dark brown areas through Winnipeg and the Whiteshell highlight the driest areas over the past month.  Areas north and south of Winnipeg have seen slightly more precipitation, with near-normal amounts through the interlake.  Central Alberta has been struggling with well above-average precipitation over this summer.

The previous record was set in July of 2006, when a mere 10.5mm of rain fell through the month.  So far this year, Winnipeg has seen but a scant 10.0mm of rain, although at least 0.5mm of that which has been recorded was a spurious observation of rain that didn’t actually fall.  In reality, the Winnipeg Int’l Airport has probably seen only 9 – 9.5mm of rainfall this month.

That being said, the story isn’t the same for the entire Red River Valley.  Winnipeg has been the victim of splitting rain systems this month, resulting in only slightly below-normal precipitation through the southern Red River Valley and near-normal precipitation north of Winnipeg into the Interlake.

As for the beginning of August, it looks like there’s a very slight chance of showers or thunderstorms Monday evening, but it looks very conditional and if anything gets going in North Dakota, I would say our chances drop to pretty much zero for getting any rain.  After that…more sun.  So if you like the sun and heat, enjoy!