The Trans-Canada Highway west of Maple Creek, Sask., was ruined by flooding during a summer filled with rain across the province. (CBC)

The change of season brings an end to what some people in Saskatchewan are calling the summer that never was.

"It was awful, just awful," Kim Sakundiak, a produce vendor at Regina's farmers' market, told CBC News Wednesday. "The worst summer ever."

Sakundiak said business was down about 30 per cent this year.

And shoppers at the market could not find anything sunny to say about the summer weather.

"The summer that wasn't," said one.

"I don't think we had a summer," added another.

Another simply summed it up in one word, "terrible."

Statistics from different parts of Saskatchewan reveal the reason behind the general malaise: rain.

In Saskatoon, the average annual rainfall is 265 millimetres. To date, 483 millimetres have already been recorded.

In Wynard, about 175 kilometres north of Regina, the average rainfall is 308 millimetres. So far, the city has measured 835 millimetres of rain.

Flooding disasters

Intense rainstorms throughout the summer also made headlines.

North Battleford, Yorkton and Maple Creek were among the towns worst hit by floods, and dozens of others were officially designated as disaster areas in need of government assistance.

West of Maple Creek a section of the Trans-Canada Highway was still being repaired months after flooding wore away the earth to create a waterfall-like crevice.

Another telling weather statistic comes from Yorkton, about 190 kilometres northeast of Regina. In a typical summer the temperature reaches at least 30 C 11 times. However, in 2010 the temperature never reached that mark.

Weather forecasters say Saskatchewan's summer has been a challenge.

"We had an unsettled atmosphere for most of the summer," CBC weather specialist Dan Reynish said. "So, while you could predict rain, we would never be able to predict how much rain we ended up getting."

And, as is often the case with the forces of nature, there is an ironic coda to the summer: With the start of fall the weather forecast is for sunny skies and warm temperatures for much of the province.