It's no secret the Swift Current area lacked moisture in 2021 and according to Environment and Climate Change Canada, last year was one of the driest the region had seen in over a century.

With records dating back 135 years, it was the third driest year in history with Swift Current only receiving 202.6 millimetres of precipitation, a mere cry from its average of 357.4 millimetres. Those numbers are thanks to the aridness of the winter and fall seasons both ranking in the top ten driest.

graphic courtesy of Environment and Climate Change Canada

"That's really significant," Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said. "Of course, it was dry last year so this is a continuation of dryness. February was particularly dry. Really the story of the year, of how dry it was and just the effects it had on farmers and ranchers, really quite devastating."

The dry conditions continue a trend the city has experienced over the past five years now, as 2017 posted the second driest year in the record books at 197.8 millimetres just shy of the 2001 record of 185.4 millimetres.

"Precipitation-wise, just so much dryness," she said. "Everyone said it was so warm, it wasn't necessarily warm, it was more dry than warm."

Swift Current logged the 21st warmest calendar year, coming in with an average temperature of 4.8 C, just above the 136-year average at 4.3 C.

"I found that interesting just because that is sort of the trend because we're slowly warming," she said.

Eleven temperature records were set this past year with eight of them being heat records. The warmest day was July 2 at 37.8 C and the coldest was -39.1 C on December 28.

"That's a temperature difference of over 70 C and that's very typical for this province," she said. "Very typical for what we call a continental climate meaning there is no big bodies of water that moderate the temperature."

In terms of wind, Swift Current only set a couple of daily records with the strongest gust being registered on March 29 at 120 km/h.

"It was just seasonal wind storms that we had," she said. "Wind is an indicator of instability in the atmosphere because we can get gusts out of thunderstorms but surprisingly we didn't. I'm not talking wind gusts in the summer because there wasn't any thunderstorms in the summer. When you see those it's an indicator of the energy in the atmosphere when you see big wind gusts."

Tornado activity in Saskatchewan was at an all-time low this past year, with Environment and Climate Change Canada only posting eight occurrences, their lowest number since starting to record them in 1984. Two of the tornadoes did touch down in the southwest, one in Hodgeville and the other in Glenbain.