Southern Alberta was treated to some rain this week (Aug. 16) and quite a significant amount in a few areas.

The Government of Alberta's climate station in Black Diamond, which is used to measure precipitation in surrounding areas like Okotoks and High River, showed 51.2 millimetres.

Claresholm had 44.8 mm, with Strathmore showing 38.9 mm.

Stavely got the most, with 65.6 mm.

Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Alysa Pederson says it's the most we've gotten in over a month.

"The precipitation we got earlier this week was actually the first time we've had any measurable amount of rain above two millimetres since July 8th, since there was thunderstorm activity on July 8th through the region... That was over a month or pretty much no precipitation, which is pretty substantial, especially for agriculture in southern Alberta for sure."

That lack of rain ties in directly with the smoke we've been seeing.

"The smoke, when it drifted into Alberta. it actually helped limit the amount of thunderstorms we usually see in the Foothills, so that's part of the rain we had a lot less precipitation than we might usually get in the summer, because most of our precipitation in the summer, a lot of that comes from thunderstorm activity."

The rain we did get seems to have been good for the area, with several fire bans having been lifted in the Foothills just a few days later.

 

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