Wetter outlook for drought-struck Midwest

chicago / reuters Forecasts were for wetter weather in the U.S. Midwest this week, which will help the late-planted soybean crop but arrive too late to be of benefit to the drought-stressed corn crop, an agricultural meteorologist said. The region was expected to get half to one inch of rain Aug. 8 and 9. “Previously

One warm July across the province

As I write this article it is almost the end of the month, and even though I don’t have the final numbers yet, I’m pretty sure I can come pretty close based on the forecast for the last couple of days this month. So here we go with our monthly look back at the weather


Cooler and wetter in the forecast

So far the weather models have been pretty good this summer. The only real problem, as usual, is with the timing of the different systems. For this forecast period it looks as if the weather pattern might be trying to undergo a bit of a change to cooler and wetter conditions. To start off this

Province says Shellmouth flooding couldn’t have been prevented

Farmers downstream maintain that province’s “blame it on the rain” position doesn’t hold water

This year’s flooding of cropland along the Assiniboine River downstream from the Shellmouth Dam couldn’t have been prevented, according to the province. “The Assiniboine Valley producers are farming vulnerable, low-lying Assiniboine Valley lands. In the 2011 and 2012 flood years, the inundation of crops was a natural occurrence,” according to a new report by the


WMO sees increased chance of El Niño in 2012

There is a slight chance of El Niño weather conditions developing between July and September but the strength of any such event, usually associated with significant changes in precipitation, is unknown, the World Meteorological Organization said June 26. El Niño is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. In

Overnight low of 41 C – yikes!

With the weather being fairly quiet across much of agricultural Manitoba over the last two or three weeks, I thought this would be a good time to take a look around and see what has been happening weatherwise around the world. First stop is right in our own backyard. While the weather has been fairly


Warm weather to continue

The first part of last week’s forecast played out pretty much as expected, but the second part of the forecast, well that was a bit of a bust! The upper area of low pressure did cross north-central Manitoba over the weekend, but it lost a fair bit of its energy as it did so. The

Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes

Since they can’t actually get inside to measure it, scientists aren’t completely sure what causes a tornado

We’ve seen a few thunderstorms over southern and central Manitoba so far this July, but most have not been very severe. That said, over the weekend, southwestern Manitoba had a tornado watch in effect and that reminded me that we need to finish our look at severe thunderstorms and in particular, tornadoes. The biggest question


Riding the edge of a heat wave

Last week’s forecast played out pretty much as expected, with the exception of a little more cloud and slightly cooler temperatures on Sunday and Monday, but after the dry weather and all the heat last week I think it was actually appreciated! It looks like the heat will be back on for most of this

Expert says climate change may be driving floods

Climate data suggests weather patterns are changing and flooding on the Assiniboine River may become more frequent, says John Pomeroy, director of the University of Saskatchewan’s Centre for Hydrology. It’s not just the three consecutive years of heavy spring rains that concern the professor, who is also a Canada research chair in water resources and