Central Manitoba is bracing for a week of summertime heat but is hoping for as few thunderstorms as possible.
“We’re hoping for no water,” said Ron Curtis of Ag Soilutions at Neepawa.
“Neepawa-Gladstone is suffering from moisture real bad. A lot of fields have way too much water.”
Curtis said tornadoes that touched down in and around his community last week caused minimal damage.
Crops vary in quality and staging from field to field and from variety to variety.
“Some have handled the moisture stress depending on seeding date, others have not,” he said, describing areas around Glenella as extremely wet.
Read Also
Key actions identified to address canola tariffs
Federal and Saskatchewan governments discuss next steps with industry on Chinese tariffs
Barley has suffered the most while canola is variable and wheat is OK. Winter wheat is exceptional.
“It got off to a reasonably good start, with good moisture early,” said Curtis.
The area has not experienced many days of high temperatures and moisture is more than a metre down.
“We’re certainly not going to be desperate for moisture unless we have excessive heat,” he said.
Spraying is underway, with disease levels about normal for this time of year, said Curtis. There are few issues with insects to date.
“Overall some guys will have a fantastic year and for other guys, it won’t be quite as good,” he said.
Environment Canada is forecasting sunny skies and warm weather in the mid to high 20s C across the Prairies for the coming week.
Last week saw active weather with tornado sightings at Neepawa-Gladstone and thunderstorms near the United States-Manitoba border to the east.
Morden and southeastern regions had rainstorms as did areas near Riding Mountain park. Thunderstorms also moved across the Prairies from Calgary-Edmonton to Saskatoon.
Bob Cormier of Environment Canada said rains brought relief from moisture stress to central and eastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan, including Meadow Lake, Saskatoon, Bigger and Unity.
“There was not much moisture south of Highway 16 (Saskatchewan) and south of Calgary to Kindersley (Sask.),” he said.
“There was not widespread precipitation everywhere.”
