I have been waiting to see if the weather models were going to come into agreement on the upcoming shift on our weather pattern and for the most part, they have: it’s going to get cold! A large area of low pressure has formed over the eastern Arctic and the counterclockwise rotation around that low […] Read more
Prairie Forecast Update: Cold and some snow coming
Issued Oct. 22, covering Oct. 22 to 25
New drought in Argentina threatens ‘massive losses’
Rosario Grains Exchange report sees little relief on horizon
Reading Time: < 1 minute Argentina’s core agricultural farmland could suffer “massive losses” in wheat yields due to another drought, the Rosario Grains Exchange warns, even as the country reels from a drought in the last cycle deemed the worst in 60 years. The exchange has not yet changed its forecast for a 15 million tonne wheat harvest for the […] Read more
Prairie Forecast: Warmer, colder… then snow?
Issued Oct. 18, covering Oct. 18-25
Not surprisingly for this time of the year, the last forecast didn’t play out exactly as expected, but overall, it was pretty darn close. The large area of high pressure that was forecasted to develop over the northern Prairies and slowly drop southward did just as forecast, but over the first few days the high […] Read more
Alberta beef producers in dire need of better drought response, says chair
Meanwhile, grain and canola producers managing with crop insurance
Reading Time: 5 minutes Alberta cattle producers need better business risk management (BRM) programs and they need them yesterday, says the chair of Alberta Beef Producers. “I believe we are in a crisis,” said Brodie Haugan from his ranch about 80 kilometres south of Medicine Hat. “We’ve seen the compounding effects of drought and severe weather. We’ve seen many […] Read more
Brazil tells landowners to stop setting fires in Amazon ‘climate emergency’
Properties could be embargoed, agency says
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s government told ranchers and farmers on Friday to stop setting fire to the Amazon rainforest as clouds of dense gray smoke make the air increasingly unbreathable in the northern city of Manaus, threatening sanctions if they do burn areas of land. “Fire is not natural in the Amazon, it […] Read more
Bleak 2024 for Canadian beef sector, says U.S. report
Only two things will save national cow herd, said analyst: feed and moisture
Reading Time: 3 minutes The United States Department of Agriculture has dropped a report painting a grim picture of the Canadian beef industry in 2024. And according to an Alberta market analyst, most of its forecasts check out. The Canada: Livestock and Products Annual report predicts an ongoing contraction of the Canadian cow herd driven by a dwindling heifer […] Read more
Prairie Forecast: Sprawling high to bring dry, seasonably warm weather
Issued Oct. 11, covering Oct. 11-17
For the first time in a while, the last forecast period did not play out exactly as the weather models predicted, thanks mostly to a strong area of low pressure that moved westwards from the Atlantic into central Ontario last weekend and into the first half of this week. While the low didn’t impact the […] Read more
Prairie Forecast: Building western ridge to bring warming trend
Issued Oct. 4, covering Oct. 4-10
Last week’s weather forecast played out close to what the weather models were predicting. Western regions saw cooler-than-average temperatures move in, while eastern regions saw a brief return to summer-like temperatures. This pattern was a response to an area of low pressure that spun up over the central U.S. during the second half of the […] Read more
Prairie Forecast Update: Wet weather for southern Manitoba, southeastern Saskatchewan
Update issued Oct. 2, covering Oct. 2-4
The strong area of low pressure that the weather models have been forecasting to impact the eastern half of the Prairies on Tuesday and Wednesday is starting to take shape. The latest model runs show the low pushing northward into western Manitoba early on Tuesday morning and then moving off toward northwestern Ontario by late […] Read more
Prairie Forecast: Summer tries to hang on
Issued Sept. 27, covering Sept. 27 to Oct. 4
For being this far into fall, the weather models have been surprisingly accurate. Heck, I didn’t even need to send an update for the last issue! Not sure if I can be as optimistic for this forecast period, as we are moving deeper into fall and starting to see the first hints of winter trying […] Read more
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