Prairie Precipitation Deficits

This year’s drought impacted essentially all of Western Canada, but there were pockets were things were definitely worse than others.

As the map below shows, the largest and worst-hit area was around Saskatoon, where total growing season precipitation (April 1 – Oct. 31) was more than 150mm (about 6 inches) below normal (shown in red). There were other small areas in Alberta and Manitoba that were similarly short on moisture, including south of Winnipeg and in the Peace River district.

The area shown in light blue extending from about Regina south to the US border appears to have fared much better. However, the bulk of that precipitation fell in October (more than 200% of normal for the month), well past the point when it could have done much good for crops. Portions of extreme south-central Manitoba also received good rainfall this past month.

For most of the Prairies, precipitation deficits for the 2021 growing season ranged from about 15 to 150mm, with rainfall generally only amounting to about 40-85% of normal for the April-October period.