Swift Current’s October felt more like early fall than the edge of winter, coming in both warmer and drier than normal. Environment Canada reports the city’s average temperature last month was 7 C, 2.1 C warmer than the 140-year monthly average. Danielle Desjardins, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said the warmer weather was felt across much of Saskatchewan. “We were seeing temperatures between 1.9 and 3.4 C above normal by the end of the month,” she said. Key Lake recorded its warmest October in 49 years, averaging 3.3 C, up from the long-term average of -0.1 C. La Ronge had its second-warmest October at 5.9 C, 3.4 C above normal. Swift Current received 11.3 millimetres of precipitation, just 46 per cent of the 139-year monthly average of 24.4 millimetres. Most of the rainfall fell on Oct. 3 and 12, which together accounted for 9.8 millimetres. “For Swift Current, it was one of the drier areas,” Desjardins said. “The southwest and northern parts of Saskatchewan were on the drier side, though some other regions saw moisture recovery.”