Prairie weather plays a starring role in my novel Astraphobia, coming in June to BWL’s Paranormal Canadiana Collection (https://bookswelove.net/authors/paranormal-canadiana-collection/).   In Astraphobia, lightning in its many forms stalks three generations of the McKenzie family as they move from Scotland to Ottawa and ultimately to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Canada averages about two million cloud-to-ground lightning strikes a year.  Half a million of them are in Saskatchewan, and most of those are in the short, hot summer.  Spectacular thunderstorms put on a light show as they rage across the landscape, tossing around grain bins, flattening crops and sometimes setting things on fire.   It doesn’t take much to be the tallest thing on the prairie during a thunderstorm, although it might be some comfort to know that 90 per cent of the people who are struck by lightning survive.     

Saskatchewan is a drama queen when it comes to weather.    A week ago we were the coldest place on Planet Earth.  Colder than Siberia.  Or Antarctica.  So cold that taking a deep breath could freeze your lungs.

           

Today it’s plus five and we’re walking around with our coats open and our faces to the sun.   But the respite will be brief.  The temperature will plummet, melting rivulets will freeze into sheet ice scraped clean by cutting winds and we’ll be back to taking tiny penguin steps to get around.   Winter is the dominant season here, hanging around like an unwanted guest until April or even May.  Surviving it is a badge of honour.