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Soil Moisture – Extremely Dry to Excess
Several storms brought much needed rain to parts of southwest, central and northwest regions of Manitoba. Soil moisture is adequate in most of these regions but additional rainfall will be needed again soon to support the rapid crop growth and development. Parts of the eastern and Interlake regions of Manitoba are still wet from the large rainfall event 10 days ago and signs of excess moisture stress are beginning to appear (crop yellowing and drowning out in low lying areas). Much of Saskatchewan received rain in the last week but only enough to support the crop for a limited time. A significant general rain is needed shortly to continue advancing the canola crop. Parts of southern Alberta also received rain (minimal shower to two inches) which is providing temporary relief from the poor soil moisture conditions. However, many areas are surviving from shower to shower and are in need of a significant general rain or continued regular showers. The extremely dry conditions continue in the area north of Medicine Hat along the Saskatchewan/Alberta border (Hanna and Oyen areas) since no rainfall was received. Other parts of central Alberta received scattered thundershowers in the past week, but rainfall amounts were highly variable. The southern Peace region of Alberta did receive much needed rainfall (one inch) and the BC Peace region received about two inches. The western areas of the northern Peace region received rain but not eastern areas where conditions are dry.
Maps of current moisture conditions in western Canada from PFRA are available at:
http://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/drought/prpay09_e.htm
http://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/drought/prpgs09_e.htm
Additional moisture information for Alberta is available from Alberta Environment at:
http://www.environment.alberta.ca/forecasting/data/precipmaps/weekly.pdf
