Year of odd weather strains many farm families

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Published: December 18, 1997

Elaine Shein is Producer managing editor.

At a time when snow should be falling and Christmas lights twinkling, ashes fell and fires lit up the night.

Alberta’s foothills are renowned for howling winds propelling giant windmills, but instead the wind fanned raging grass fires. More than 50 kilometres of land were devoured in five hours on Dec. 14 after igniting near Pincher Creek.

A small town and Hutterite colony were evacuated, and ranchers raced to move families, livestock and what they could from pasture and stubble which served as tinder. Further north near Hinton, ranches were lost to flames as bulldozers and firefighters frantically fought forest fires there.

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Record high temperatures on the Prairies at this time of year, and a lack of snow, have created these dangerous conditions.

While El Nino has been blamed for the unseasonal weather, the past year has seen many “records of the century” broken. Mother Nature has hurled record snow, floods, drought, hail, wind, cold, heat and everything else at farmers.

Shortly after Christmas last year, British Columbia’s coast was blasted by almost 100 centimetres of snow and winds of 80 kilometres an hour.

Vegetable crops, greenhouses, dairies and other agricultural businesses suffered.

A month later, Americans enjoyed Superbowl Sunday but western Canadians awoke to -43 or colder.

That frigid blast was just one of many record-shattering days between October to April.

Farmers and ranchers struggled to keep their livestock warm and maintain their feed supplies until spring.

By the last week of March, warm temperatures melted snow quickly and southeastern Saskatchewan flooded.

Calving became a challenge; one family used a canoe to carry feed to cattle.

Bins of grain were lost. Some rural roads still await repair.

Then southern Manitoba was hit by more than 50 cm of heavy snow in the first week of April. Watching in shock as the Dakotas fought flooding, Manitoba furiously prepared to protect farms and villages from the inevitable.

Neighbors, strangers and the Canadian army assisted with sandbagging.

By the end of April and into May, the Red River showed its power of destruction. More than 25,000 people were evacuated. Land, farms, and possessions of several generations of family were lost. Schools, churches, hospitals, roads and bridges fell victim to the muddy waters.

By the first week of August, a parched Western Canada cried for rain after a month of soaring temperatures in the mid-30s turned crops white from heat stress. – except in the Peace River region, where two years of heavy rains have led to two lost crops.

In mid-November, combines still crawled through snowy fields, claiming any grain they could.

The effects of these weather records will be felt this Christmas. Some farm families will find it hard to buy gifts or find spiritual faith after such trying times.

Now is the time friends, neighbors and complete strangers should show compassion for their fellow human beings and reach out to help these families during the holidays.

Pummelled by Mother Nature, they deserve a better end to their year.

About the author

Elaine Shein

Saskatoon newsroom

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