Farmers and meteorologists say record rainfall in southeast Sask. could help growing season

Farmers and weather observers in southeast Saskatchewan say last week's record-breaking rain could be a boon for this year's growing season. 

On May 15 and 16 a storm brought significant rainfall to the southeastern corner of the province, with some communities receiving over 100 millimetres of rain in 48 hours. 

"What we saw was a developing low pressure system that crossed through Montana and stalled out essentially right over the central portions of North Dakota," said Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Eric Dykes.

"It moved all the moisture up from the southeast up through the United States's midwestern states, pushed it up into Manitoba, and retrograded back towards southeastern portions of Saskatchewan where it basically just kind of sat there over several days."

According to the government of Canada weather service, Estevan received over 70 millimetres of rain, while Maryfield and Esterhazy, two communities close to the southeastern border with Manitoba, saw 59 millimetres and 47 millimetres. 

The service also reported that volunteer weather observers had reported close to 100 millimetres of rain in Kenosee Lake, and 108 millimetres in Radville, a community 100 kilometres northwest of Estevan. 

Trevor Hadwen, an agro-climate specialist from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, said that the added moisture from the rain will benefit farmers, especially those who have already seeded their crops.

"We've seen drops in our soil moisture right across the province, leading to a little bit more concern than we did at the end of last month," he said on May 14.

"But certainly still in the area of much more positive outlook than we've seen in the last number of years for the province."

As of April 30, while not in official drought conditions, several areas along the southern edge of the province were classified as abnormally dry. The following two weeks saw very little rain, adding to the lack of moisture but also allowing some farmers to seed their crops before the rain began.

"Areas that have been seeded already will benefit greatly from the precipitation that we've seen," said Hadwen. "Precipitation also slows down that seeding a little bit. So producers that still haven't got it out in the fields and had limited seeding done, mostly in the south or on the northeastern corner of the province, they're the furthest behind."

"Areas down that southwest corner that are most advanced and seeding really want this moisture right now."

Jason Leblanc, who grows mainly grains and oil seeds outside of Estevan and who got his seeding done early, said the rain couldn't have come at a better time. He said his farm received around 90 millimetres over the course of Thursday and Friday.

"It was a perfect rain," he said. "We don't want any more of it. We of course want that again in about three weeks, but we can handle that kind of rain."