County farms are parched when it comes to moisture, says the province, but last weekend's winds might yet quench their thirst.
Sturgeon County and St. Albert are dry as a bone after months of warmth, with both regions imposing fire bans as a result.
Moisture reserves throughout the county are at one-in-25-year lows, said Ralph Wright, a soil moisture specialist with Alberta Agriculture — something you'd expect to see maybe once every half-century. Precipitation is also down to a one-in-12-year low. These trends, plus a dry fall and unusually warm spring, have kept nature from replenishing soil moisture reserves.
Edmonton has had below-normal precipitation for seven of the last 10 years, Wright noted, and was far below normal during the last three. "We've had the two driest years in 50 within the last 10."
Farms parched
That has farmers such as Robert Tappauf concerned as he and others gear up for the start of seeding next month.
"It's the driest in this area we've ever experienced farming," said Tappauf, who farms about 15,000 acres west of St. Albert. "People were pounding fence-posts at Christmas time because the ground was so dry."
The county has been short on rain and snow for years, Tappauf said. Past crops have survived by tapping water trapped deep in the soil, but those reserves are now gone. "There's no subsoil moisture to utilize." Last week's winter storm brought some snow, but high winds caused most of it to evaporate before it could be absorbed.
Ranchers have been particularly hard hit, said Rod Scarlett, executive director of the Wild Rose Agricultural Producers. Grain and oil farmers won't need rain for a few more weeks, but ranchers need it right now to feed and water their cows. "There's a real threat of pasture grasses not coming back." His group is working on forage insurance plans as a result.
Most farmers don't seed before May 1, Tappauf said, but many will likely cut back on what they plant because of the weather. "People are going to cut back 10 to 20 per cent on fertilizer," he predicted, and will emphasize cash crops such as canola to maximize their return.
Winds of hope?
It's definitely dry out there, Wright said, but April is usually a dry month — Alberta averages about 20 millilitres of rain this month, compared to about 50 in May. "People tend to forget that the three wettest months of the year are still ahead of us."
Last week's winds might also have broken the warm, dry weather system that's been sitting over Alberta for the last month or so, said Nick Nimchuk, fire weather meteorologist for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, and triggered a return to wetter days. "We will be seeing a lot more rain and snowfall for much of the southern half of the province," he predicted, with Edmonton seeing about 15 to 20 millilitres of rain.
The recent warm spell has also helped thaw the soil, Nimchuk said, which means rain will seep into it instead of running off. "It's going to help things green up very, very well."
Sturgeon County is a drought-prone region, Wright said, which makes conserving soil moisture all the more important. Zero-till, high stubble, and drought-resistant crops would all help protect soil and the water it contains.
It's tough to predict moisture levels, Wright said, but Nimchuck's forecast suggests a big dump of rain or snow sometime in the next few weeks. "We hope they're going to be right."
For detailed soil moisture maps, see the AgroClimatic Information Service at www.agric.gov.ab.ca.
