A surprise spring snowstorm across central and northern Alberta is
welcome news to farmers hit by two years of drought.
“We won’t turn it away,” said Andrew Peden of Minburn. He received 25
centimetres of snow Sunday evening.
“It’s so welcome. We were so darn dry it wasn’t looking good.”
The combination of rain and wet snow has turned his corrals and
farmyard into a sea of mud and manure.
“It’s really a big, sloppy mess,” said Peden, who still has 120 cows to
calve.
Carolyne Marshall, a meteorologist with Environment Canada said central
Alberta received between 20 to 30 cm of snow. The storm ranged across
northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, dropping five to 15 cm.
Around Edmonton, twice as much snow fell overnight than the monthly
average of 12.8 cm.
“It’s definitely going to give a lot of moisture to much needed areas,”
she said.
