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Cool spring helping making up for dry winter

Slow snow melt is good for farmers after dry fall and winter
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Our slow crawl into spring may vex some, but the colder-than-usual weather that has slowed melting is welcomed by farmers.

Ralph Wright, who manages the climate information service for Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation, said it has been a relatively dry winter. From Nov. 1 to March 27, moisture levels are at a level that could be expected in one of every three to six years in the Red Deer area.

Most of Lacombe and Ponoka Counties, County of Stettler and the eastern side of Clearwater County are at one in six to 12-year lows.

That followed a drier-than-usual fall, which is an important season for recharging the soil with moisture ahead of winter. Last September and October were much warmer than usual, said Wright.

“Basically the opposite of what we’re seeing now. I guess we’re getting our payback,” he joked.

Much of central Alberta saw moisture levels in the one in 25 to 50 years range.

“The fact it’s been cold this winter is good because it has held that snow for a little bit longer.”

Based on long-term forecasts, it appears temperatures will stay cool and snow will melt slowly. Farmers like slow melts because more moisture is soaked up in the soil. A fast melt often has water running off frozen fields and into the ditches.

“So there’s some hope there that once we get a nice slow melt and once it warms up very quickly after that the pastures will have at least some good moisture to go on ahead of the spring rain.”

So, while there has not been as much snow as usual, what fell has remained and as of March 27 snowpacks are at near-normal levels.

“It’s positive news in the face of the dry winter we’ve had.”

For farmers, timing is everything when it comes to moisture. February is typically the driest month of the year followed by March. In central Alberta, winter provides about 25 per cent of the moisture received in any given year.

“So 50 per cent of normal in March is nowhere near as worrisome as 50 per cent of normal in June.”

The crucial moisture starts to arrive in May, often peaking just in time for the May long weekend, which thousands of spring campers have learned the hard way many years.

For seeded crops, June is usually the most critical month when it comes to moisture.

While pasture land is vulnerable to dry conditions, it also can bounce back quickly if the rains come.

“It’s funny you can look at a dry, brown landscape and you get a week of rain and everything is lush and green again. The neat thing about the Prairies is vegetation responds very quickly to moisture.

“If you get it at the right time and in the right amount then everything is fine.”

What Mother Nature has planned is always a mystery.

Take 2022: it was dry straight through May, raising the spectre of the previous year’s severe drought. But then the rain came in abundance in June, giving crops and pasture a much-needed boost.

“It’s still early, right. I think we’re going to wait and see what happens.”



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