The Old Farmer’s Almanac released its long range forecasts
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
The mercury on a farmer’s thermometer may read above seasonal norms but this winter will be a cold one across Ontario, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac’s long range forecast.
And the province can expect the most snow between late November and the early parts of December. Heavier snow will return in early to mid-March.
Moving into the spring and summer, Ontario’s temperatures will stay on the cooler side.
April and May, in particular, will be cooler than normal but have “near-normal precipitation,” according to the Almanac.
Farmers are already making preparations for next year in anticipation of a narrower planting window because of cool weather and the risk of frost.
“We’ve planned our equipment in such a way that we should be able to do everything within a ten-day window but that doesn’t always happen,” Timo Brielmann, a producer from Rainy River district with about 4,500 acres of canola, wheat and soybeans, told Farms.com.
Summer will be hotter than usual but rainfall could be below normal levels, says the Almanac’s forecast.
As far as September 2017 goes, it appears it will be a soggy one in Ontario.
Each week in September is forecasted to have showers or thunderstorms, according to the Almanac.
And that frequency of rain could pose its own set of problems, according to Brielmann.
“If that happens and we don’t get the combining done on time, then tillage can become a problem,” he said.
“We might have to seed into no-till land or do some tillage in the spring. Tilling land in the spring really slows us down and hurts the land up here.”
Top photo: Timo Brielmann/CBC