There were pockets of relief, but overall rainfall across Western Canada disappointed in June.
As the map below shows, large portions of all three Prairie provinces received well below normal precipitation over the last 30 days, including up to less than 40% (shown in dark red). The lack of rain has allowed drought to expand and taken a heavy toll on crop conditions, especially in parts of central and southern Alberta where a handful of counties have now formally declared agricultural disasters.
In its June 28 declaration, Foothills County – located directly south of Calgary - said eastern areas of the municipality had received less than 35% of average annual rainfall with some areas seeing less than 2 inches in total to date.
“The condition of annual crops across the county are varied, with the areas south of Blackie and High River being the most severely affected,” the Foothills declaration reads. “The hot, dry conditions have caused poor germination and early maturity. Most cereal crops are in the boot to flowering stage and any additional moisture will have little effect on 2023 yields.”
Meanwhile, the latest monthly edition of the Canadian Agricultural Weather Prognosticator from World Weather Inc suggests little relief is on the immediate horizon. Although rainfall was initially expected to start to become more plentiful in June, the report said unexpected factors came together to ultimately block any widespread, more meaningful moisture from reaching north of the border. Now, the forecast for the first half of July looks dry as well.
“Concern will be rising over low soil moisture and crop stress from eastern and far southern Alberta through the heart of Saskatchewan and into the interior southern portions of Manitoba,” the report said. Some scattered rainfall is still possible and likely, but below average amounts will “not go over very well with so much of the Prairies drying out at a relatively accelerated pace.”
World Weather said it still expects improving rainfall for late this summer.
