Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

Extremes including drought and heavy precipitation are fundamental aspects of the climate system and its water cycle. Many of the greatest climatic impacts are also linked with such phenomena. Based to a considerable degree on research conducted over the Prairies within the Drought Research Initiative (DRI), some of the means of producing a sustained lack of precipitation are shown. It is then illustrated that heavy precipitation sometimes occurs on the edge of such a region or, occasionally, within it, and that the nature of the associated storms can be affected significantly by their proximity to a drought region. Finally, future projections of drought and heavy precipitation occurrence across the Prairies in particular are summarized along with scientific issues that limit our predictive capability. Speaker: Professor Ron Stewart Ronald Stewart is a Professor in and Head of the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of Manitoba as of July 1, 2008. Dr. Stewart obtained his BSc (ho