Better Prairie Precipitation in February

February was supposed to be a better month for precipitation across Western Canada, and it looks like it came through.

As can be seen on the map below, much of the Prairies saw at least near normal to well above normal precipitation during the month. Areas south of Winnipeg and north of Edmonton into the Peace River District got hit particularly hard, with amounts of up to more than 200% of normal (shown in dark blue). Some pockets admittedly did not do as well, most notably the extreme southern portions of all three Prairie provinces, as well as areas south of Edmonton and Saskatoon.

Some Prairie areas have been in drought in for as long as three to four years, with last year’s dryness particularly devastating for farmers. The dryness has raised concerns about soil moisture levels heading into the spring planting season.

A recent drought outlook from Agriculture Canada suggested drought removal was likely for virtually all of Manitoba, much of eastern Saskatchewan and parts of northern Alberta by the end of February. If not complete removal, some improvement in drought was also expected in most other Prairie areas. The only real exception was a few isolated pockets along the far western edges of the drought in Alberta, where conditions in some cases were in fact projected to get worse.

In the latest edition of the Canadian Agricultural Weather Prognosticator, World Weather Inc. meteorologist Drew Lerner said he continues to expect the central and southwestern Prairie to come into the spring notably short on soil moisture. Other Prairie areas, including much of Manitoba and northern portions of both Alberta and Saskatchewan, have done much better in terms of snowfall and are expected to be in a better position in terms of spring planting moisture.