In a year during which much of the country has been plagued by Thermal waves, Forest fire and droughtThere is a small pocket in the meadows that has had its most wet summer in recent memory.
There has been enough rain in the south of Alberta this summer to begin to compensate for the persistent drought that has affected the prairies during most of the last nine years.
“It has been like Vancouver here,” said Leroy Newman, a grain farmer near Blackie, high., About 15 kilometers east of Okotoks. He said he waits at least one 50 percent harvest this year compared to the last.
It is an impressive investment considering how the season began.
The region experienced a warm drought and conditions during winter and spring, with approximately two thirds of the normal mountain snow layer.
In the summer, it seemed that it would be a repetition of the drought of 2023, said John Pomeroy, professor and director of the global water observatories at the University of Saskatchewan.
Then, the rain came.
“[It] He saved us, “said Pomeroy, who is based in Canmore, Alta.” If I hadn’t arrived, we would be in an extremely severe drought situation. ”
The south of Alberta experienced “significant” rain in July, according to agriculture and agricultural Canada, and many areas obtain more than 150 percent of their normal precipitation. Southwest parts obtained more than 100 millimeters of rain, the agency said, and some areas near Calgary had more than 150 millimeters.
Saskatchewan southwest has also benefited, with more than 150 percent of normal precipitation.
Pomeroy pointed out that some of the weather stations that his team monitors in the rock mountains has obtained up to 500 millimeters of precipitation from May 1, approximately twice what would be considered normal.
Many Calgarians have complained this summer for the attack of the rain. But Graeme Finn, who lifts cows near Madden, high., He has a different opinion.
‘The springs are starting to flow again’
The water landfill has not only helped this year’s crops, but also has the groundwater, shelters, ponds and reservoirs, establishing farmers with proverbial money in the bank for next year.
“It has been a gift from heaven,” said Graeme Finn, a meat producer near Madden, Alta., About 60 kilometers northwest of Calgary.
Finn said that persistently dry conditions since around 2022 had affected their business. The shelters were drying, the fodder, the plants that the cattle eat were not recovering after spring grazing, and had begun to sell some of their major cows.
“Then we got that rain in June and we just enlightened,” he said. “The springs begin to flow again.”
Some parts of the still dry meadows
Not everyone has benefited from a moisture impulse. The farmers who sowed the crops early are still suffering, since the rain would have arrived too late to make a big difference in those regions, said agriculture and the agricultural Canada.
In the southeast of the province, the Federal Agency Drought monitoring map It shows that there are still areas affected by dry conditions.
There is also a gulf between the north and the south. While the south of Alberta has generally benefited from the rain, the north and parts of the Alberta center have been persistently dry. Several municipalities have declared agricultural disasters.
In other parts of Canada, most of the country has been dry. As of July 31, 71 percent of Canada was classified as “abnormally dry” or in “moderate to extreme drought”, according to agriculture and agricultural Canada.
British Columbia, Northern Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and much of Canada’s Atlantic have been seeing precipitation levels below normal levels, said Trevor Hadwen, a specialist in Agroclimas at the agency.
“The south of Alberta is anomaly this year,” Hadwen said.
While it is good news to see a change in the drought situation of the region, Pomeroy, with the University of Saskatchewan, said it is related to the fact that rock mountain glaciers, which generally provide drought insurance during the dry years in Alberta through its fusion water, continue to reduce, many at a high speed of more than 60 centimeters per week this summer.
The well -known Peyto glacier, for example, has melted so fast that the Pomeroy team recently had to move a monitoring station from the bottom to the top of the glacier.
“Without glaciers, we depend on the rain at the end of summer, and the rain is very volatile,” said Pomeroy, adding that we need better weather prediction systems to keep up with the changing conditions.
‘We can obtain a real gain’
Even so, many are finding many reasons to celebrate this month. While the rain can have moistened People’s camp and swimming plans have been a great boost for farmers.
For now, Newman, the grain farmer, said the rain has probably pushed its harvest in approximately two or three weeks. Wait some sun to finish the season before the frost arrives, but in general it is reflecting on a happy summer.
“They have spent four or five years since we have had a good harvest,” he said. “It’s about breaking all those years to finally get ahead and have a harvest in which we can obtain a real gain.”
