July was the opposite of June when looking at monthly weather stats from Environment Canada.

While June had cooler than normal temperatures and an abundance of rain, July was hotter and little to no rainfall.

Environment Canada Meteorologist Andy Yun said while most of Saskatchewan was warmer than average with some areas experiencing long stretches of above average temperatures, the northern part of the province was the warmest.

La Ronge recorded an average temperature of 20.5 degrees and Meadow Lake 19.5 degrees, each the warmest July in their respective history.

“With those warm conditions up there, that kind of explains why they had issues with forest fires and everything too.” said Yun.

Regina had an average temperature of 20.4 degrees, which is 1.5 degrees above normal.

Yun says last month was very dry for precipitation with Regina recording just 2.9 mm, the third driest month on record, while enduring 29 straight days of less than a millimetre of precipitation, which tied a July record.

Both Key Lake and Estevan recorded its driest month on record with Estevan getting only 1.7 mm, just 3 per cent of normal for that time of year, and Key Lake 24.7 for the month, which is 28 per cent of normal.