Wet, cool conditions continue to delay harvest

Alberta crop conditions as of September 13

Reading Time: 2 minutes Through early September, conditions have generally been cool and moderately wet. Over the past week, almost all Regions in the province have experienced hail. Additionally, a frost occurred between September 12 and 13 in most fields of the South, Central, North West and Peace Regions. The potential damage of hail or frost has not yet […] Read more

Wet weather slows harvest operations, halts some producers completely

Alberta crop conditions as of September 6

Reading Time: 2 minutes The wet weather over the past week slowed down or completely halted harvest operations in most areas across the province, especially the North East, North West and Peace Regions. The recent moisture will also have a potential impact on crop quality. Provincially, 16 per cent of the crop has been harvested (up seven per cent […] Read more


What started as a potential drought year has instead produced 
a never-ending stream of hailstorms.

It may not be a record but this year’s hail damage will be close

The great white combine has been decimating crops across most of 
the province and adjusters are struggling to keep up with claims


Reading Time: 3 minutes Increased hailstorms across Alberta have crushed many crops, and hail claims are soaring this year. “We’re trending to be similar to 2012, which was the record claim year,” said Nikki Booth, communications manager with the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation. “At this point in time, it’s looking like we will not be as high as 2012, […] Read more

rain on cropland

Wet weather continues to drag out harvest operations

Alberta crop conditions as of August 23

Reading Time: < 1 minute The wet weather pattern that has persisted throughout the entire growing season continued to affect the province this week with amounts varying from showers in the South to light rain in the Central and North East regions and heavy rain in the North West. Only the Peace received an extended period of dry weather which […] Read more


This map shows the total amount of precipitation across the Prairies during the first two months of this summer as a departure from average. Areas that are dark yellow to brown have seen below-average amounts; light-yellow, blue and green areas are near average; and dark-green, blue and purple areas have seen above-average amounts. You can see a large portion of the Prairies has been relatively wet, with southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan being the wettest, receiving between 100 millimetres to more than 120 millimetres more precipitation 
than average.

There’s a lot of truth in many sayings about the weather

Ones that predict what’s going to happen in the next little while 
make a lot of sense, but long-term predictions are pretty iffy

Reading Time: 3 minutes There are a number of different weather sayings, and weather folklore, that have their base in sound weather principles. For example, one of the most well-known sayings is, “Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.” This saying works pretty well and makes sense if you live in the […] Read more

Inclement weather helps put harvest operations behind average

Alberta crop conditions as of August 16

Reading Time: 2 minutes Widespread showers and thunderstorms have continued to dominate weather patterns over the past several weeks. However, most areas across the province have also had some sunny and warm days to help mature crops. Provincially, crop growing conditions did not change from a week ago and are rated as 84 per cent good to excellent, compared […] Read more


wheat field

Crop conditions improve, harvest operations underway

Alberta crop conditions as of August 9

Reading Time: 2 minutes Rains continued to fall across the province stretching from the Peace Region to the Southern Region. Provincially, crop conditions improved for all Regions from a week ago and are rated as 84 per cent in good or excellent condition, up one per cent from a week ago and up 13 per cent from the 5-year […] Read more

Hail, flooding damage some crops, but most ‘good to excellent’

Alberta crop conditions as of August 2

Reading Time: < 1 minute Over the past week, rainfall activity has been convective in nature, with heavy downpours leading to localized flooding, and in some cases damaging hail across the province. This has maintained soil moisture levels, but slowed haying progress and reduced hay quality. In cases where crops are not performing well, it is largely due to excessive […] Read more


Haying dogged by persistent showers, crop conditions also affected

Alberta crop conditions as of July 26

Reading Time: < 1 minute Warmer temperatures covered the province but the persistent showery weather continued in most regions affecting haying progress principally but also crop conditions. The provincial crop condition rating was virtually unchanged from last week at 82.5 per cent of crops rated in good or excellent condition compared to the five year average of 72 per cent […] Read more

This map shows the total precipitation across the Prairies over the last three months. Most areas have seen near to slightly above average rainfall so far this growing season, with only southern and central Alberta seeing below-average amounts.

Our heads are in the clouds

Having trouble sorting out cumulonimbus, stratocumulus, 
and nimbostratus? Here’s your cloud-spotting guide

Reading Time: 3 minutes I’m currently off exploring the mountains of southeastern B.C. and southwestern Alberta and due to my travels, will have go with a more generic weather article this issue. I decided to take a look at something that ties into pretty much all of our weather — clouds. If we were to define a cloud, we […] Read more