First off, I must apologize for not producing an update to the last forecast; I had the opportunity to do some backwoods camping, which meant I was off the grid for about five days. I’m back now, and from the weather model runs I’ve been able to check out, this forecast period is going to […] Read more
Prairie Forecast: Cooler and unsettled
Issued Aug. 9, covering Aug. 9 to 16
Pulse weekly outlook: Average yields expected for Manitoba crops
Beans, soy may still benefit if rain comes
MarketsFarm — Pulse crops in Manitoba fared well against the elements which included sporadic rainfall and normal to below-normal temperatures for much of the past month. Provincial pulse specialist Dennis Lange in Altona said field peas should begin harvesting operations next week. “As far as pea acres go, we’re looking at about 145,000 acres. That’s […] Read more
How El Niño threatens emerging market economies
Significant changes to rainfall, or prolonged droughts, could also impact hydropower output, boost food, fuel prices
London | Reuters – Countries around the world are battling heatwaves and floods fueled by El Niño, a naturally occurring climate phenomenon that has a 90 per cent probability of persisting in the second half of 2023, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The worldwide impact can be enormous, but the stakes are higher for […] Read more
Manitoba’s crops continue to hold up
Hay yields generally below average; pasture conditions were deteriorating due to dryness
MarketsFarm – Timely rains in Manitoba have kept the province’s crops in relatively good shape, according to the latest crop report. Manitoba Agriculture said precipitation as of Aug. 1 amounted to as much as 73 millimeters around Zhoda in the southeast to 13 mm at The Pas in the north. Although several locales throughout the […] Read more
Prairie forecast: Warm-hot start then slow cooldown
Issued August 2, covering August 2 to 9
The weather models have been doing a good job with the overall weather picture over the last several weeks, despite a fairly unsettled, tough-to-figure-out weather pattern. In this next forecast period, it will again be tough to figure out some of the finer details as our region experiences weak highs, lows, and even the possibility […] Read more
Saskatchewan crops a mixed bag
Some cereal crops beyond harvesting with plans to salvage for feed
Marketsfarm – There was a wide mixture of the results in the latest crop report from Saskatchewan Agriculture. Parts of the province were hobbled by drought conditions, while other areas received upwards to 40 millimetres of rain following a series of thunderstorms during the week of July 18 to 26. The desiccation of pulse crops […] Read more
The ingredients for a severe summer storm
Air temperature and movement determine whether it will be a storm to remember
Reading Time: 3 minutes What turns a regular thunderstorm into a severe thunderstorm, or occasionally, into a thunderstorm that you truly remember? First, there is a hot humid air mass in place, the air a few thousand feet up is very cold, providing for good lift, and there is a strong jet stream overhead to provide venting at the […] Read more
Opinion: Why climate change isn’t always to blame for extreme rainfall
Warm air holds more moisture, but not all catastrophic rain events are due to a warming globe
Reading Time: 3 minutes Extreme rain and floods can trigger a flood of another sort — claims that climate change is to blame. But these claims are not always well founded. In our new paper in Nature Geoscience, we discuss what can and can’t be attributed to climate change after extreme rain events. We use the floods of early […] Read more
CBOT weekly update: U.S. Fed decision one of many factors
Russia’s withdrawal from Black Sea Grain Initiative, attacks on Ukrainian ports have caused erratic price movement
Marketsfarm – The decision by the United States Federal Reserve on July 26 to raise its key interest rates mostly served as a distraction on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) from other events affecting grain futures. The central bank continued its efforts to wrangle inflation by pushing interest rates up 25 basis points to […] Read more
Updated prairie forecast: unsettled start as sub-arctic high builds in
Issued July 26, covers July 26 to August 2
Update: A low tracking through central prairies is a little weaker than expected. This will result in less precipitation with showers, thundershowers, and storms being less widespread. Another issue is the smoke which can be difficult to predict. Areas with smoke we see cooler than expected daytime highs. An upper ridge that brought plenty of […] Read more
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