It is commonly agreed in Alberta that if you don’t like the weather,
wait 10 minutes.
For parts of southern Alberta, the waiting is over. Many areas received
more than 300 millimetres of rain during the second week of June. For
central and northern Alberta, the wait continues as farmers and
ranchers face a weather calamity.
The good news is refilled irrigation reservoirs in the south. As snow
and rain tumbled down, every pothole, dugout, hollow and lake filled to
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the brim.
Water managers choose to remain prudent, however.
“We’re still implementing a rationing procedure within our district,”
said Derick Jaffrey of the St. Mary’s River Irrigation District based
in Lethbridge.
“Our allocation is 15 inches per acre (380 mm). Our farmers won’t lack
for any water,” he said. The earlier ration was nine inches (230 mm)
that was later upgraded to 11 inches (280 mm) per acre foot.
St. Mary’s Reservoir is 95 percent of average compared to 10 percent of
normal a month ago.
“We’re always living from year to year. We still require average
precipitation over the summer but we’re looking OK,” said Jaffrey.
Reservoirs are expected to hold the continuing flow of southern rivers
and streams as they rise due to mountain snowmelt following a week of
warm weather. Flood watches were issued June 17 for the Oldman River
between Fort Macleod and the Oldman River dam site, Bow River at
Calgary and Belly River near Cardston.
While southern rivers and reservoirs are swollen, the situation is less
favourable farther north.
“With no precipitation, we don’t have the same situation with rivers in
the north,” said Kim Hunt of Alberta Environment.
A few isolated showers in some areas lifted farmer morale, but a few
spots of rain will not save pastures or cropland, said municipal
agriculture fieldmen.
In the Special Areas of southeastern Alberta, pastures and cropland are
in grim condition.
Fieldman George Aaserud said Alberta crop insurance officials are
expected to write off tame pastures June 17. With no snow and scant
rainfall, the pastures are dried up and crops have barely germinated.
Small cow-calf operators have been forced to disperse entire herds.
“Our cow numbers are down real bad,” Aaserud said.
Producers have been forced to move most of their herds. For many, that
meant sending them to northern Saskatchewan or Manitoba. Some producers
signed three-year contracts to ensure pastures at home are given time
to rejuvenate, said fieldman Gary Peers at Acadia Valley in
east-central Alberta.
“Our problem is a lack of grass and water to fill those dugouts,” he
said.
Last year, extensive pumping programs were initiated and unless some
significant rainfall arrives soon, there is no water left to pump this
summer.
Some areas received up to 25 mm of rain but most received nothing.
“What we need is one of those dirty, rotten winters where we get good
runoff for the soil moisture,” said Peers.
The story is the same throughout many northern regions. In northeastern
areas like Barrhead, Camrose, Wainwright, Provost and up into the Peace
River district, farmers continue to scan the sky for rain.
At Peace River, about 12 mm fell June 16 but it was the first moisture
since early spring, said fieldman Audrey Gall.
Until the weekend of June 14, the weather was cool and dry. Pastures
were growing slowly. Weekend weather saw temperatures near 30 C.
She remains optimistic.
“As long as we get some more moisture, the area isn’t a writeoff,” she
said.
