It was a near record-breaking month weather-wise for Swift Current in a pair of categories during August.

The city experienced the sixth warmest August on record with an average temperature of 20.9 C, well above the 136-year average of 18.2 C.

A lack of moisture also led to the ninth driest on record, with the weather station only recording 6.7 millimetres. The monthly average is 41.5 millimetres.

Natalie Hasell, a meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, said several ridges of high pressure and ridges aloft in the southwest drove temperatures up and made precipitation sparse.

"At this time of year these ridges are usually associated with heat, so kind of that heat dome idea," she explained. "We have that repeatedly through the summer but especially this last August. Not only did that mean a lot of hot weather, but it also meant a lot of dry weather. We also see the correlation in the precipitation data."

Swift Current endured 16 days in which the temperature rose to at least 30 C, well over the average in August for those extreme days that sit at 6.1.

"Daytime highs were four degrees warmer than the Canadian climate normals [for Swift Current] that go from 1981-2010," she said. "There is definitely a sign that things are changing when we compare these values."

Swift Current's daytime high maximum average for August was 29.2 C.