Lower than normal levels of precipitation
ALBERTA AGRICULTURE
Unsettled, cooler than normal weather has dominated the skies since about mid-April, with overnight lows often dipping below the freezing mark. This has resulted in low soil temperatures and a relatively slow start to grass green up. While some areas across the west-half of the province have seen moderate amounts of moisture in recent weeks, extremely dry conditions have continued to persist for several months now, throughout the North Eastern Region and parts of southern Alberta.
4-day precipitation accumulations (Map 1)
Over the weekend the growing season’s first widespread rains finally arrived to a large area of the province, with many lands receiving at least 10 mm of moisture (Map 1). Along a wide band stretching from the Swan Hills all the way down to Medicine Hat upwards of 20 mm fell. Unfortunately, parts of the dry North East Region were largely missed, along with the extreme northern and western parts of the Peace Region, and parts of the Southern Region.
30-day precipitation accumulations (Map 2 and Map 3)
Unsettled weather since mid-April, along with the recent rains has resulted in at least near normal precipitation accumulations across approximately 60% of the Alberta’s agricultural areas (Map 2). Notable exceptions include most of the North East Region, the northern Peace Region and some parts of central Alberta, with some areas experiencing very little to no spring precipitation (Map 3). These areas have seen below normal precipitation accumulations extending back to at least September of 2020.
In contrast, over the past 30-days, the west-half of the province along with much of the southern Region has received at least 20 to 30 mm of moisture, grading to well over 50 mm for lands under the influence of the foot hills, Swan Hills and the Cypress Hills (Map 3).
Soil Moisture Reserves
The recent rains have helped to improve soil moisture conditions across many locales, but large areas with below average moisture conditions still occupy each of the five Agricultural regions (Map 4). Most notable are the large pockets of one in 50-year lows across much of the North East Region and the north-eastern portions of the Central Region. These areas need moisture soon to encourage pasture growth and help keep soils from blowing excessively during seeding operations.
Perspective
Generally speaking, we appear to be in a relatively “normal” weather pattern for this time of year.Long range forecasts (up to 14-days) are pointing to continued unsettled weather with the potential for moisture, along with temperatures on the cooler side of average for this time of year. While these forecasts are often not fully reliable, they do suggest that conditions are currently not favorable for the development of a high pressure system that stalls in place and allows warm, dry air to intrude from the south and dominate our weather for several weeks.