Crop development exceeds five-year average, hay yields ‘promising’

Alberta crop conditions as of June 27

Reading Time: 2 minutes Over the past seven days, most of the Peace Region and much of the North East and North West Regions received 10 – 20 mm of precipitation to as much as 30 mm. In the Central and South Regions, the west portions received no more than five mm while the east portions received 5 – […] Read more



This map shows the total amount of precipitation that has fallen across the Prairies so far this growing season compared to historical values. It continues to be a dry start to the growing season across nearly 
all of Manitoba and much of Saskatchewan, with wide areas reporting values that are very low to extremely low. 


Diving a little deeper into summer weather and tornadoes

Tornadoes are nearly impossible to study but we do know a lot 
about the mechanics of how they form

Reading Time: 3 minutes In this instalment, we’ll continue our look at severe thunderstorms, and specifically, the most deadly part — tornadoes. While eastern parts of the Prairies have only seen a few isolated severe thunderstorms, parts of Saskatchewan and Alberta have already seen their fair share. I think most Canadians were more than impressed, and maybe a little bit […] Read more

Seeding nears the finish line, growing conditions good to excellent

Alberta crop conditions as of June 13

Reading Time: 2 minutes Over the past week, most areas of the province received at least 10 mm of rain, with the western areas of the Southern, Central and North West Regions as well as southern areas of the Peace Region receiving over 20-30 mm of rain. About 96 per cent of crops across the province have now been […] Read more


Seeding 91 per cent complete, harvest of over-wintered crops nears completion

Alberta crop conditions as of June 6

Reading Time: < 1 minute A week of favourable weather has advanced seeding to 91 per cent completed, up 12 percentage points for the week but well behind the five year average of 99.5 per cent. Seeding intentions are changing due to the late date as producers shift acres to barley away from spring wheat, canola and field peas. Crop […] Read more

This map shows the amount of precipitation compared to average that fell across the Prairies over the 30-day period ending on May 25. It continues to be a tale of east versus west, with most of Alberta reporting average to above-average amounts, while in Manitoba amounts have been well below average. In Saskatchewan, southern and eastern regions have been dry while northern sections have been wet.

Tornado season is upon us — here’s what to watch for

The area between the storm and cloud, clouds with bags hanging from them, and the wind are keys in spotting the danger

Reading Time: 3 minutes So far in our look at severe summer weather, and in particular thunderstorms, we have looked at how thunderstorms form, how they can grow into severe thunderstorms, and finally, how hail is produced. Next up on the severe thunderstorm list is tornadoes! Before we begin our look at tornadoes though, I think we have to […] Read more


The number of unseeded acres isn’t pretty

Reading Time: < 1 minute Even with a run of perfect weather, many northern producers are unlikely to finish seeding all their acres. As of May 23, (the last crop report before press time) just 57 per cent of seeding was complete province-wide versus the five-year average of 83 per cent. The north has particularly struggled with getting seed in […] Read more

Seeding well behind five year average, crop stages behind normal

Alberta crop conditions as of May 30

Reading Time: < 1 minute Seeding progress in the province has reached 79 per cent complete, up 22 percentage points on the week, but well behind the five-year average of 97 per cent. A weather front early in the reporting period brought strong winds and varying amounts of rain to the North West and North East regions, reaching into the […] Read more


Seeding progress spikes in Alberta, farmers 57 per cent complete

Alberta crop conditions as of May 23

Reading Time: 2 minutes In most parts of the province, weather conditions over the last week were favourable for the harvesting of crops left over from 2016 as well as the seeding of new crops for 2017. Showers and rainfall over the last week occurred mainly in the western parts of the province. Provincially, seeding progress was up by […] Read more

This time I thought I'd take a break from precipitation maps. These temperature graphs for Red Deer (chosen because it is the most central location in Alberta) show the daily maximum and minimum temperatures along with the departure from average for the last 365 days (ending on May 13). Looking at the pattern in the centre graph, it will be interesting to see what the next month might hold in store for Alberta. Will we continue to see a shorter and less pronounced warm spell? Or will we see a rebound since the last below-average period was less intense than the previous ones?

Cooking up thunderstorms with Mother Nature

Severe thunderstorms are a fascinating phenomena and you need 
the right conditions to come together

Reading Time: 4 minutes Thunderstorm season isn’t too far off so we’ll continue our annual look at what is arguably one of the most fascinating weather phenomena we see in our part of the world. I always like to begin our look at thunderstorms by touching upon one of my biggest weather pet peeves, which is when people mix […] Read more