Moisture Update - September 4, 2024
Synopsis
Map 1: In the 7-days since the last report, precipitation across the province has been relatively light, and highly variable (Map 1). The greatest amounts were recorded along the border with Saskatchewan, with upwards of 30 mm falling south of Lloydminster, decreasing southward to 10-15 mm through the Special Areas, and with lesser amounts of 5-10 mm through the eastern half of the Southern Region. In addition to this, scattered rains resulted in 3-10 mm through parts of the Central Peace Region. Meanwhile, most of the western portions of the four agricultural regions remained dry, which has been generally been favourable for harvesting but unfavourable for pastures and hay land that are in need of immediate moisture.
Recent Precipitation Trends
Maps 2 & 3: Over the past 30-days, precipitation has generally trended to at least near-normal across the North West, Central, and Southern Regions, and to a lesser extent across some parts of the Peace Region (Map 2). In contrast, precipitation across the North East Region has remained well below normal, with some areas trending to 12 to 25 year lows over the past 30-days. For these lands, this is a trend that has now continued since early June, and most of the North East Region has received well below normal rainfall over the past 90-days, and several pockets of at least once in 50-year lows are emerging (Map 3). Similarly, parts of the Central Region have been very dry over the aggregate of the past 90-days, but recent rains over the past 30-days (Map 2) have marked, at least for now, a positive change in rainfall patterns, with the exception of a strip of land between Red Deer and Calgary.
Soil Moisture Reserves Relative to Normal
Map 4: Current soil moisture reserves are highly variable (Map 4), with most of the Southern Region, which is typically dry at this time of year, currently estimated to be at least near-normal, with several areas trending to above-normal. Elsewhere, at least near-normal conditions exist across the eastern third of the Central Region, the extreme southeastern portions of the North East Region, and the east-central portions of the Peace Region. Dry conditions continue to build across much of the North East Region, the eastern half of the North West Region, the west-central portions of the Central Region, as well as through the western and northern portions of the Peace Region.
Perspective
Fall is an important season for building soil moisture reserves ahead of next year’s growing season. Over the next several days, warm and dry weather is set to prevail across most of the province, leaving the latter half of September and the month of October, critical for receiving the precipitation needed to help build soil moisture reserves ahead of the fall freeze up. Across many of the aforementioned dry areas, as winter fast approaches, moisture stressed pastures and hay land will need rain very soon to help build root reserves for next year’s early growth spurt.
Should conditions remain dry this fall, there is still ample time to build soil moisture reserves this spring, provided that healthy snowpacks develop this winter, and spring runoff conditions are slow enough to be favourable for retaining some of the moisture on, and in, the landscape.
Contact Us
Saddle Hills
Junction of Hwy 49 & Secondary Hwy 725
RR1, Spirit River AB
T0H 3G0
T. 780-864-3760
Fax 780-864-3904
Toll-free 1-888-864-3760
frontdesk@saddlehills.ab.ca
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