March brought very dry conditions in most of the Prairies, with warm temperatures in Alberta and southeastern Manitoba and below average temperatures elsewhere.

Crunching the winter weather data

Some clear patterns emerged from the numbers

When diving into the data of this winter’s weather, it was clear that this winter brought near average temperatures across the Prairies with near to below average precipitation.




Damage is seen from a rain-wrapped tornado at Cole, Okla., just south of Oklahoma City, on April 19, 2023, in a screengrab from a social media video. (Photo: Hans Duran video screengrab via Reuters)

Spring weather to dominate first half of March

Large parts of Argentina, Brazil to be dry

Be it the Canadian Prairies or the United States Midwest, spring-like weather is on its way for the first couple of weeks of March, said Drew Lerner, president and chief agricultural meteorologist for World Weather Inc. in Overland, Kan. Meanwhile, the dryness that has dominated parts of Argentina and Brazil is likely to continue for the next several weeks.



Demand for organic pulses had been steadily rising before the COVID-19 outbreak, but supply chains are prepared to meet the new demand. Photo: File

Pulse Weekly: Looking at price shifts in 2024

Production up for most Canadian pulses

Pulses in Canada had quite the year in 2024 with prices closing out the calendar year in the middle of their trading ranges. Production was higher on the year for most pulses. Dry pea output in Canada rose to just short of three million tonnes, up from the 2.61 million harvested in 2023, according to the Statistics Canada principal field crop report issued Dec. 5.