Hydroclimatic trends and possible climatic warming in the Canadian Prairies

Abstract

Results from applying Kendall's test to temperature and precipitation data from 37 weather stations, along with 50 sets of natural streamflow data and 13 sets of evapotranspiration, data show that the Canadian Prairies have become warmer and somewhat drier in the last 4-5 decades. Warming trends are detected in more weather stations than are drying trends. Temperature data are more highly correlated across sites than precipitation. No link was found between precipitation and maximum temperature. Kendall's test on the drought duration, severity, and magnitude for two Saskatchewan sites did not detect any significant trend.