This summer has been one of the strangest and most difficult growing seasons in the history of Manitoba: two months of flooding followed by two months of blistering hot weather.
Although it wasn’t the hottest or the driest summer on record, it definitely wasn’t normal, said David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada.
“There were a lot of elements that made this summer particularly exceptional,” Phillips said.
“It was the year of the big flood…. (Then) the situation turned right around in southern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, come the first day of summer (June 21).”
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The average daily temperature in Winnipeg in June, July and August was 19.6 C, which is 1.6 C warmer than normal. The hottest year on record was 1988, when the average daily temperature was 21.1 C.
As well, Winnipeg received only 93 millimetres of rain from June 1 to Aug. 31. The record for the least amount of precipitation was 91 mm in 1961.
“This July, I believe, was the driest on record for some (weather) stations in southeastern Manitoba,” said Trevor Hadwen, an Agriculture Canada agroclimate specialist in Regina.
July and August were also particularly hot in Manitoba: the temperature exceeded 30 C in Winnipeg on 17 days.
The number of growing degree days in eastern Manitoba this summer was four percent higher than normal, but most of the heat came in July and August, which was terrible timing for crops seeded into soaked fields in May and June.
The plants were vulnerable to the heat because they didn’t develop proper roots in the wet soil conditions of June.
Many farmers in eastern Manitoba have reported poor crop quantity and quality since harvesting began late last month.
“I’ve been hearing guys talking about canola seed so small it looks like pepper,” said Chuck Fossay, who farms near Starbuck, Man.
It’s been a different story in Alberta, where cool and wet conditions in June and July delayed crop development in much of the province.
“In Calgary, they were constantly talking about, when is summer coming?” Phillips said.
Edmonton had 10 percent fewer growing degree days than normal this summer. The average daily temperature was 14.5 C in June, July and August, below the normal 15 C.
The city didn’t have one day over 30 C this summer. The hottest day was Aug. 21, when the thermometer hit 28.5 C.
As well, rain fell frequently in Alberta in June and July. More than 277 mm of precipitation were recorded in Edmonton in June and July, compared to normal precipitation of 182 mm.
Temperatures and precipitation were closer to normal in Saskatchewan this summer.
Hadwen said the growing seasons in northern and southern Saskatchewan were polar opposites.
“It was kind of a reversal; very dry in the north during the spring and very wet in the south. Then it flipped completely in July,” he said.
Rain came to the northern grain belt but stopped falling in the south.
Phillips said it may have been a challenging year for farmers in Manitoba, but it was a good summer in the province for other reasons.
“The mosquitoes went to Edmonton, you got the Jets back and the Blue Bombers are doing well. My God, it’s like the best of the world.”
