Cattle amble through fresh snow in northwestern Saskatchewan on Oct. 22, 2016. (Lisa Guenther photo)

Prairies’ harvest window starting to close

CNS Canada — The dry, balmy weather that gave farmers in Western Canada the chance to get the remainder of this year’s crop off appears to be winding down. “There is a little disturbance in Alberta coming across to northern Saskatchewan over the next two days; it will start tonight,” said Drew Lerner of World […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

FCC offers to bend terms for soaked Prairie growers

Canada’s federal farm lender says it will be flexible with qualifying Prairie crop growers facing financial trouble from a rain-soaked harvest season. Areas of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have experienced “significant levels of rain in the last half of the growing season and snow since the beginning of October,” Farm Credit Canada said in a […] Read more


Averaged sea surface temperatures and sea surface temperature anomalies worldwide for the week centred on Feb. 3. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

Timing of La Nina to play key role in Prairie moisture

CNS Canada –– As the El Nino weather phenomena slowly loosens its grip across Western Canada, many weather watchers say its impact has been somewhat underwhelming. However, one meteorologist said its lingering presence, coupled with the pending arrival of the La Nina weather event, may still play a large role in determining how much moisture […] Read more

soil moisture map of Alberta

It’s getting dry — is it time to worry?

No, says weather expert, but areas across the province are on Bruce Burnett’s watch list

Reading Time: 3 minutes With warm-weather records dropping like flies and bare fields drying out in parts of the province, is there trouble ahead? Don’t worry yet, says Bruce Burnett, weather and crops specialist at the CWB. “I don’t think that this early-spring weather means that we are necessarily headed for a drought,” Burnett said in a March 20 […] Read more


Prairie farmers eye early start to seeding

Winnipeg | Reuters –– Western Canadian farmers, some of whom could not plant crops last year due to soggy soil, may be able to get a head-start on sowing their fields this spring. Canada is the world’s biggest canola exporter and the second largest wheat exporter, but its flat western provinces — Manitoba, Saskatchewan and […] Read more