After weeks of moisture, drought conditions ease in parts of Prairies
Steve Donald has one phrase to sum up the present situation of his southeast Saskatchewan farmyard:
“Muck.”
The 42-year-old grain and cattle farmer close to Moosomin, Sask. — simply over 200 kilometres east of Regina — says repeated spring snowstorms have delayed seeding on his land. However he is optimistic the additional moisture will present enough feed and water for his cattle, and higher rising situations.
“We had no subsoil moisture in any respect going into freeze-up,” mentioned Donald. “Now with the quantity of snow we had all winter, plus what we’re getting now … that is good.”
He is now hoping the climate will dry out and heat up, which might make calving a lot simpler.
Trevor Hadwen, an agriclimate specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Meals Canada, says the drought has migrated over Western Canada over the previous 5 years or so, with Manitoba and Saskatchewan experiencing the worst of it final summer time.
This 12 months, he says, the distinction in Saskatchewan is noticeable.
“The province appears to be break up in half, with the japanese areas doing so much higher than final 12 months and the western elements nonetheless struggling from the drought,” he mentioned. “These previous few storms actually have modified the outlook for … the southeast.”
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s drought monitor exhibits a lot of the japanese half of the province to be in “reasonable drought” — or a one in five-year drought — as of March 31. A lot of the western half, in the meantime, stays in “extreme” to “excessive” drought — situations solely seen as soon as in each 10 to twenty years.
“That space goes to be delayed by way of their pasture restoration; by way of their feed availability for cattle,” mentioned Hadwen. “They will want ongoing rain via the summer time interval.”
An up to date model of the drought map is predicted within the first week of Might.
John Pomeroy, the Canada Analysis Chair in Water Sources and Local weather Change on the College of Saskatchewan, says the drought in southeast Saskatchewan has ended.
It takes a whole bunch of millimetres of water to reverse drought, however it could actually occur, he says.
Pomeroy famous cooler situations within the southeast would possibly delay seeding this season, nevertheless it ought to assist in the long term to replenish deep soil moisture misplaced over the previous couple of years.
“Nobody’s misplaced a crop throughout a chilly April,” mentioned Pomeroy. “What moisture is there shall be obtainable in Might and June after we want it.”
Not all hope is misplaced for the western half of the province.
Pomeroy notes “large” snowpacks within the Rocky Mountains measuring two metres — with some drifts as deep as 5 metres — have yet to soften but.
As soon as they begin melting in the summer time, they will fill rivers on the Prairies, offering “enough” water for farmers and hydroelectric stations, mentioned Pomeroy.
Flooding a priority as storms proceed
Whereas the moisture is welcome for some, it is an excessive amount of for others.
A Colorado low impacting elements of Manitoba this weekend might carry as a lot as 80 millimetres of rain. Within the worst case state of affairs, that would trigger the Crimson River to rise to ranges above what was seen in 2009 — the worst flooding occasion since what was known as the “Flood of the Century” in 1997.
An overland flood advisory has additionally been issued by Saskatchewan’s Water Safety Company for areas within the southeast alongside the Antler River and its tributaries.
Hotter climate this weekend in Saskatchewan might trigger snow to soften rapidly, resulting in flooding on farmland and over roadways.
The company suggested folks to keep away from any waterways with fast-moving water.
