Otters need access to water to hunt. Tracks are usually not far from access points used to get under the ice.

Wildlife stories in the snow

Winter is one of the best times to get a peek at the habits of wild critters

In my early 20s, I had the privilege of tagging along with Cree trappers in northern Manitoba. It was part of my youthful dream to learn how to live off the land, and who better to learn from than the people and communities that had been doing it for millennia? When it came to hunting

The probabilities suggest that a snowfall event yielding at least 10 centimetres in the Winnipeg region will happen about twice per typical winter.

A deeper dive into winter snowfall amounts

Statistically, we see less than two centimetres about half the time when it snows

Often when we get October snow, I am asked how often we see big snowfall events. I talked a little bit about this last week but this week I will take a deeper dive into snowfall. During one of my university courses on water systems, we looked at stream flows and how to calculate the


A sea otter floats near the Columbia Glacier along Alaska’s southern gulf coast. (Chansak Joe/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie Forecast: Nice, quiet early-winter weather

Issued Nov. 1, covering Nov. 1 to 8

Interesting weather pattern setting up across the Prairies during this forecast period. Well, maybe “interesting” isn’t the right word; “boring” might be a better one. What I mean by “interesting” is just how quickly we swung from a warm fall pattern to a cool winter pattern. Low temperatures across the Prairies over the last week

File photo of the produce section at a Canadian grocery store. (FatCamera/E+/Getty Images)

Canada retools inflation baskets with more focus on food, gas

Snowblowers and barbecues in, DVD players out

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s national statistics agency on Tuesday revealed new weights for the basket of goods and services in its Consumer Price Index, giving more prominence to changes in the prices of food and gasoline. The reweighting, which Statistics Canada carries out every year, has historically had only a marginal impact on the

Weather: Winter tries to hang on

Forecast issued Apr. 14, 2023, covering the period from Apr. 19 to Apr. 26, 2023

Surprisingly for spring, last week’s forecast played out close to what the weather models predicted. The expected Colorado low late in the week developed as the models thought it would. It moved in earlier and moved out earlier and was not as strong as forecasted. It did intensify, but not until it was in northern Ontario, and that


File photo of a southern Alberta field as spring approaches. (BrendanHunter/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie soil moisture picture growing clearer

Alberta driest; Saskatchewan variable; Manitoba mostly OK

It’s a variable soil moisture picture on the Prairies as seeding season draws nearer. The east has enough moisture — and in some cases too much. And it gets progressively drier toward the west, with portions of Alberta nearing critical condition, according to one weather watcher. Bruce Burnett, weather and markets director for the MarketsFarm

Weather: Below-average temperatures to continue

Forecast issued Mar. 31, 2023, covering the period from Apr. 5 to Apr. 12, 2023

Last week’s forecast played out surprisingly well. The storm system predicted to slide to our south at the start of the forecast period developed as expected but tracked further south than originally forecast, thanks to — you guessed it — strong arctic high pressure over our region. The quick weekend storm system looks to be

Weather: Little if any snow expected

Forecast issued Mar. 3, 2023, covering the period from Mar. 8 to Mar. 15, 2023

You can tell when the weather pattern starts to switch into spring mode, not because we necessarily see warmer weather, but because the weather models have a tough time with medium-range forecasts. We saw this in the last forecast. Confidence was low and it looked as though we would be stuck between the two main


“So far this winter, the temperatures are below the 30-year average in much of the southwest and northwest regions and slightly above normal in the central regions.” – Alison Sass.

Expect more cold weather

La Nina continues to affect weather patterns across the Prairies

While many fields may need some significant precipitation prior to spring seeding, the long-term forecast predicts near normal levels for the rest of winter. According to the 2022 Manitoba Basins Fall Conditions Report, after the wet spring of 2022, the hydrologic situation improved during the summer and fall months, with normal to below-normal rainfall. In

Weather: Small chance of any significant snowfall

Forecast issued Feb. 10, 2023, covering the period from Feb. 15 to Feb. 22, 2023

Once again last week’s forecast began on the right track, with warm weather moving in last Wednesday followed by a cooling trend on Thursday and Friday. What it missed out on was the strength of the warming trend. The push of warm air ended up being much stronger than anticipated as the upper ridge of