Precipitation down by half in parts of Westman

June is typically the wettest month of the year for western Manitoba, but some areas are dealing with only half of the usual amount of precipitation, says an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada climate specialist.

“In the southwest corner of the province, we’re seeing large regions that are below 50 per cent of normal precipitation,” Trevor Hadwen told the Sun on Wednesday. “This last month, some areas received decent rain, but it was very spotty.”

Hadwen is finalizing precipitation data from the last 30 days for the province, and says southwestern Manitoba is “50 millimetres behind.”

“Depending on where you are, 50 millimetres might not be that big of a deal, but particularly the last 30 days are showing drier conditions, and we’re starting to see some agricultural areas raise a little bit of a concern.”

The data is compiled from reports using satellite imagery, information from producers, submissions from other agricultural industries impacted by climate and a volunteer group that measures and supplies precipitation amounts.

It is all used for AAFC’s drought outlook, a 30-day forecast that predicts likely drought conditions.

“No panic at this point,” said Hadwen. “We certainly have more severe drought conditions throughout the Prairies other than southern Manitoba.

“Northern Manitoba, for example, or even central Manitoba has been dealing with much worse conditions. Central regions of Saskatchewan, southwest Saskatchewan, southeast Alberta, northwestern Alberta — they’re all in either severe or even extreme drought conditions.”

Wednesday’s crop report released by Manitoba Agriculture shows varying amounts of precipitation over the past week with data from the province’s five regions — Central, Eastern, Interlake, Northwest and Southwest.

The highest amount of rain was in Neepawa with 57.9 mm. Inglis, which is about 206 kilometres northwest of Brandon, received the second-highest amount of rain in the past week with 43.8 mm.

Gladstone, about 109 km northeast of the Wheat City, had 19.1 mm.

Under the “driest location” category from the last seven days, only Alonsa — in the northwest — had precipitation, registering 0.2 mm. The other 129 locations had none.

The crop report also stated that 85 per cent of the crops in the southwest were rated as good or better, said Hadwen.

“So, rain is the No. 1 thing. We need the moisture in some of those regions fairly desperately. As we start to go more than 30 days without precip, we’re going to start to see some impacts emerging despite the cooler and wetter spring that we saw.”

Brandon has also experienced a dry spell over the past 30 days, recording 32.8 mm of rain compared to the average amount of 85.1 mm, said Environment and Climate Change meteorologist Brian Proctor.

“A third of normal precipitation of what we would normally and typically see in June, so yes it’s exceptionally dry in the short and long term,” he said.

In the last five years, Brandon had above-average precipitation in the month of June.

Last year, 119.6 mm of rain fell. In 2023, the amount was 126.5 mm, and the year before it was 94.4 mm.

The driest June on record was in 1961 with only 7.1 mm of rain.

July is Brandon’s warmest month, and places second to June when it comes to precipitation, receiving anywhere from 65 to 70 mm of rain, said Proctor.

Temperature-wise, June was on par with the expected daytime highs, he added. Brandon hit 30 C once, dipped to the teens five days and the other 24 days were in the mid to high 20s.

July started off warm and is expected to continue that trend into next week, with possible thunderstorms that could roll through Brandon tonight and Friday, Proctor said.

“We have a significant upper trough off the B.C coast that’s allowing a southwest flow (to bring) up warm air, but it’s bringing instability, giving us the potential for more storms,” he said.

“We do see a fairly significant — what a meteorologist would term a trigger — coming in with this change in the upper air pattern, giving us a good chance of fairly active thunderstorms.

“So, scattered showers and maybe some locally heavier amounts, if you get underneath one of those convective build-ups.”

Any precipitation to add to the soil and water tables is welcome, said Hadwen.

Stream flows are a “little bit lower than normal, as are water supplies,” he said.

”So, no surprise. We didn’t have a ton of snowfall this year, and when you’re in a drought, you need more moisture to recover to a normal position.

“We’re drier than normal for much of southern Manitoba, but again, we’re nowhere close to even an extreme case,” he added.

“From an agricultural point of view, we’re not doing too bad. We’re not in a perfect situation by any stretch, but considering where we’ve been before, we’re doing pretty good.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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