It may have seemed extremely warm and dry throughout January in Swift Current and the immediate area, however, no records were knocked off.

Environment Canada released their monthly data for precipitation and average temperature for last month on Monday afternoon, with Swift Current ranking as the 15th warmest January in 136 years of record.

Sara Hoffman, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said Swift Current may have been on track to break the all-time January temperature average if the last nine days weren't so cold.

"Had those numbers (from the beginning part of the month) persisted we might be looking at a different ranking for this January for sure," she said. "We did have a week of quite cooler than normal temperatures. It seems like we can always remember those colder than normal temperature periods of time rather than the warmer than normal temperatures."

The average temperature in January for Swift Current was -6.5 C, which is 4.1 C warmer than the average.   

Aside from a mild first month to start 2021 for Swift Current, it was also the 12th driest January on record, a tendency continuing on from 2020.

"It is concerning given that the tread for a lot of southern Saskatchewan is toward drier conditions," she said. "Looking at the Canadian drought monitor, the latest data is from December 31, we're actually looking at an area of abnormally dry conditions around Swift Current all the way east getting close to the Regina area."

January's precipitation totals recorded were 4.3 millimetres, well-below the monthly average of 13.4 millimetres.

Hoffman did mention that a dry winter can be concerning for crops in 2021 but did note that precipitation in the spring and summer can play a vital role especially when combined with the right temperatures.

Below are temperature graphs and precipitation maps for Swift Current provided by Environment and Climate Change Canada.