Alberta experienced another week of favourable weather which further enhanced soil drying. Temperatures were generally above average and although showers were prevalent late in the reporting period, amounts were small. Saturated soils throughout the North East, North West and Peace regions continue to hamper field operations. Seeding is underway in all regions. Seeding progress has advanced to 13 per cent of the province completed which is well behind the 5 year average of 33 per cent but remains ahead of other recent years with significant delays such as 2011 (5 per cent) and 2014 (9.5 per cent). Approximately 1.4 per cent of crops have emerged.
Good progress has been made on the harvest of the 2016 snowed under acres with 31 per cent now removed, up from 7 per cent last week. Approximately 820,000 acres still remain to be handled. Currently, 30 per cent remain unharvested in the Central region, 65 per cent in the North East, 80 per cent in the North West and 87 per cent in the Peace. Combining is the harvest method of choice to date with 75 per cent of cereals and 95 per cent of canola removed by combining. The quality of the production is quite variable.
Surface soil moisture ratings saw excessive moisture ratings decline by 4.5 percentage points to 18 per cent of the province. This improvement has been offset by an increase in the Poor and Fair ratings in the South and Peace regions. An expanding area of dryness has developed in the central portion of the South region.
The weather forecast for the upcoming reporting period is not promising. Above average temperatures early in the period will decline to below average starting Saturday and continue into mid next week. There is a high probability of showers in the South and Central regions starting Friday and continuing into early next week. For the area of Edmonton and north, showers and rain is forecast for the week end.
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