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This article was published 02/01/2025 (259 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s not everyone who will enjoy the results of stormy winter weather, but when it comes to snowfall, you can bet on a few rural residents in Manitoba welcoming December precipitation.

In fact, the last few heavy snowfalls in western Manitoba have been a blessing to both agricultural producers and winter sport fans alike.

“What I’ve been hearing from producers is that there’s good coverage overall,” said Keystone Agricultural Producers president Jill Verwey. “We had a crop research meeting in Portage at the beginning of the week. And from winter crop, there’s certainly good coverage that we like to see compared to prior years.

“I think we’re in a good position with adequate snow, if we can kind of muster through some of those really cold temperatures. We certainly have some insulation there for protection.”

In general terms, one foot of snow collected on a field is equal to about an inch of water. So when it comes to winter precipitation, coverage is better when fields have less windy conditions during strong snow falls.

In the Brandon area since the start of December, the region has received upwards of 30 centimetres — nearly a foot — of snow, which will help replenish ground water reserves going into spring seeding.

However, November brought an exceptional amount of rain to the region as well. As the Brandon Sun reported earlier this year, the normal amount of rainfall for November is 3.7 millimeters, compared with the 20.3 millimetres that was recorded. Along with another 20.6 centimetres of snow recorded that month in the region, Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Stephen Berg told the Sun that November was “quite a wet month.”

For the time being, producers should be satisfied with the current level of precipitation. But as Verwey said, winter has only just begun and what happens between now and spring is always a gamble.

“You know, moderation, right? Everybody wants to see some moderation, and we want to see, certainly some rebuilding of that lower soil so that we’re in a good place into spring,” she said. “It’s anybody’s guess what’s going to happen in the spring and certainly later when we… have the chance of getting some heavier snow in the late winter months. That affects whether or not we’re on the field early in the spring of 2025.”

However, snow fanatics don’t have to wait until next year to get out onto the field.

Doug Atchison, president of Club Snow Inc., agreed the snow in the Brandon and Westman region is quite good compared to last year. But he’d like to see even more, particularly around Portage la Prairie where he’s based.

“Being a snowmobile club, we’re never happy with this amount of snow. We always want more. But certainly once you get to the Rathwell Treherne, Holland area, they’ve really accumulated quite a bit of snow in the last couple weeks, much more than we have here in Portage.”

Atchison’s club maintains 450 kilometres of snow trails in the region, riding as far as Spruce Woods from Portage, and down to the Holland and Treherne area.

His favourite area for riding snowmobile fals between St. Claude and Portage la Prairie.

“I quite enjoy that ride, and of course I love Spruce Woods riding. That’s a beautiful park to ride in.”

Once the trails are fully groomed and marked properly, Atchison says Club Snow will host some club rides.

“We will usually organize them within a week of time. We’ll announce to all the members we’re going maybe to Gladstone. People do a circle to Brandon and come back and take a couple of days to do that. We usually try to do those a couple of times every winter.”

The 14-day forecast from theweathernetwork.com shows daytime temperatures staying in the single-digits, with a high of -7C on Dec. 31 and -9C on New Year’s Day. After that, weather trends show cooler temperatures coming into the region.

» mgoerzen@brandonsun.com