You guessed it: May was the hottest on record for much of Alberta, including Edmonton

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It's official — it was the hottest May on record for several parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and not by a small margin.

Edmonton was one of nine communities that broke records for May, with average temperatures close to six degrees above normal. 

Calgary saw its second hottest May on record, with average temperatures about 4.5 degrees above normal. 

And in Saskatchewan, North Battleford, La Ronge, Key Lake and Lloydminster broke temperature records this May.

"A lot of the places in Alberta have had records or data for over 100 years," said Natalie Hasell, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. 

"The fact that we're recording top warmest or second warmest in many places in the province for this past May, I think that is pretty significant."

What drove the heat?

After a cooler April in much of the province, temperatures took a U-turn to start May, with 30 C highs in many areas by the first of the month.

Hasell said the warm weather was brought in by blocking ridges in the upper atmosphere – large weather systems that cause prolonged periods of warm and dry conditions.

"Large numbers of places on the Prairies, even further north too for that matter, were flooded with very warm air from the south," she said.

On top of that, Hasell said the airflow came in from the west, which caused warming as that air moved down the mountain sides. 

"Not only did we have ridges centred in the States allowing this warm air to get to you, but also the flow allowing that air to warm up further as it came down … the side of the mountains."

And the pattern was repetitive, with these blocking ridges forming many times throughout the month, driving temperatures, and the fire risk up. 

Dry north this May

On top of the heat, many areas in northern Alberta saw dry conditions for the last month, with Fort McMurray recording its second driest May on record. The community only received around 10 per cent of its usual May precipitation.

High Level, Lloydminster and Fort Chipewyan also saw their top 10 driest Mays, but the rest of the province saw a lot of variability.

Hasell said that the precipitation records are more deceptive for the last month, as opposed to temperature. 

"Some places actually got quite a lot of precipitation as thunderstorms went right over the observation stations," she said.

"So some of these numbers are not entirely representative I would say, since you know, thunderstorms are small and things are scattered."

Summer heat looks to stay

While the past week brought some relief with cooler and showery conditions, Hasell warns that the rest of the summer could be challenging. 

"Our longer-term forecasts are suggesting that hot conditions, or warmer than normal at least, are likely to continue. Most of Alberta looks like it will be drier than normal," she said.

This summer could include the building of El Niño conditions, a global phenomenon that involves the warming of the surface waters of the Equatorial Pacific, which affects weather patterns around the world.

The El Niño phenomenon typically causes warmer and drier conditions in much of Western Canada, with the effects more pronounced in the fall and winter months.

That being said, Hasell said Albertans should not discount the heat this summer.

"More of this [hot and dry weather] as we've been seeing sounds about right, unfortunately," said Hasell. "That would probably characterize most of the summer."

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled "Our Changing Planet" to show and explain the effects of climate change. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page.