WINNIPEG (Reuters) — Freezing temperatures in Western Canada next week will likely end the growing season for many crops which are still immature, private forecasting company World Weather Inc. said on Friday.
The season’s first killing frost — temperatures cold enough to halt plant growth — would arrive around the usual time but in a year when many crops are especially vulnerable due to slow development. Crops that are harvested early do not usually reach their full quality potential.
The organization’s forecast says frost will touch northern growing areas of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta overnight on Sept. 9, with freezing temperatures becoming more widespread on Sept. 10 and 11, said Andrew Owen, an agricultural meteorologist at Kansas City-based World Weather.
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Lows on those mornings will range from -1 to -5 Celsius for most areas, but may drop as low as -7 Celsius in some spots, he said. The freezing temperatures may last for several hours each night, long enough to kill crops, Owen said.
“There is going to be frost pretty widespread across the Prairies,” he said.
Frost may extend to the morning of Sept. 12 in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Environment Canada, the government department that forecasts weather, does not issue advisories of widespread frost until the day before the freezing weather is expected. But government meteorologist Terri Lang said she also expects widespread frost across the Prairies next week.
The harvest in Saskatchewan, the biggest Canadian crop-producing province, was only seven percent complete as of Monday, well behind the usual 14 percent pace.
Rain this week delayed the harvest in parts of the Prairies. Weather looks drier for the next few days in the wettest parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Owen said.
