(Resource News International) –– The cereal and oilseed harvest is just getting underway across Western Canada, but producers may want to prepare for it to be a lengthy process.
According to Drew Lerner from World Weather Inc. in Kansas City, for the remainder of August, intermittent showers will be the name of the game.
“I do think there is going to be more rain around than is going to be desired at times,” Lerner said. “It’s not just going to be one continuous rain, but it will be a slower harvest because of some of the rain events that come along.”
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Lerner said with the conditions at the moment, it won’t be easy to get skipped or missed by rain showers.
“Each little disturbance that comes along is likely to bring a bit of precipitation with it,” he said. “There will be a bit more rain than what people would like to see, but not a crisis.”
While there may be some wet spells, Lerner said, when it’s not raining, it will be hot.
“The good news is that it will be relatively warm between rain events until the end of August,” he said.
Lerner also said he expects mostly the same conditions in September, but with with less moisture. He expected northern Alberta (around the Peace River area) to be a bit dryer than the rest of the Canadian Prairies.
Northern Alberta may get off easy, but Lerner doesn’t think that will be the case for the eastern Prairies.
“If I was going to go above-average on a certain area, I’d probably say the southeast part of Saskatchewan as well as Manitoba,” he said.
With the harvest predicted to go a little bit later than expected, producers will be hoping that there is not an early frost. That may be a challenge, Lerner said.
“We have to get through the first week of September, as that will be the next round of cool weather. That will be the first real threat of frost,” he said.
“If we get through that period, then we may be OK for a couple of weeks. We might be able to get into the third week of September without frost being a big issue, but that’s a big ‘if.'”
While the threat of frost in early September is very real, Lerner said the month is looking to be fairly warm.
“We could have a warmer September than normal, but that doesn’t mean we get away without a freeze.”
