Frost is becoming a common sight in Southern Alberta, as mornings grow colder by the day.

It's come as a bit of a shock for many, with those frigid mornings coming seemingly out of nowhere.

Environment & Climate Change Canada meteorologist Terri Lang says it's understandable, as we've been treated to an extended period of warm summer air.

“It’s unusual in that it’s hitting so late. Given that average first Fall frosts are usually much sooner, we’re actually running late for frosty mornings. Think of it as kind of a bonus. I think it’s because everyone's gotten acclimatized so much to the warm weather, when actual fall weather hits, people are taken aback by it even though it’s actually late to the party.”

Looking back, it’s easy to forget how cool the summer was, to begin with, though the heat soon caught up, leading to the second-hottest August on record, with the summer being the fourth-hottest on record.

It was far from the dryest summer on record, though, coming in at 56th.

Daytime highs are usually in the mid-teens at this time of year, with nighttime lows of around 3 degrees, though those can obviously fluctuate, so what we’ve been seeing in the last few days is nothing out of the ordinary, besides taking a while to catch up.

“This is the time of year too when you get a lot of variability. We’re losing daylight hours, we’re losing the high sun, so we’re losing that warmth. That allows the overnight lows to become colder, especially on clearer nights,” says Lang.

With this strange-in-between time of year can come some growing pains, with discrepancies in weather depending on the region.

Lang recommends hikers and K-country users prepare for wetter conditions.

“If you’re planning a trip to the mountains, the snow levels are starting to come down. You might think ‘oh, I’ll have a picnic up at the summit somewhere,’ but that might not be a good idea because you may be sitting in a bunch of snow. We kind of forget that, being on the flat prairie, that when you go to higher elevations that the temperature can be a lot different.”

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