Alberta Harvest Progress Ticks Up to 79 Per cent Done

Sep 29, 2023

Limited disruptions allowed the Alberta crop harvest to edge its way up to 79 per cent done, the Sept. 26 provincial crop report said. This is a 14 per cent increase from last week.

The report noted harvest is mostly complete in the south region, as well as in some areas of the central region. The harvest of spring cereals is reported as nearly done with reports indicating spring wheat at 89 per cent, barley at 91 per cent and oats at 73 per cent in the bin.

“Reports suggest that cooler evening temperatures may be slowing canola maturation in some areas, canola harvest advanced 23 per cent this week to 62 per cent harvested. An additional 23 per cent of the provincial canola crop is reported as drying in the swath,” the report said.

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Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.