A touch of moisture on the way after hot, dry summer

Some relief is coming for crispy lawns and gardens in the city, but not nearly enough to reach deep into the soil.

 

Between 20 and 30 mm of rain is forecast for the Calgary area this week.

 

“So that will help restore some of the pastures. It's perhaps a little bit late for most of the crops, which will be finished by now," said John Pomeroy, Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change.

 

"It will start to replenish some of the mountain streams, which (have) gotten very dry, and the mountain forest soil moisture, which has gone dry, and hopefully reduce the risk of forest fires."

 

While the area around the city is at or a little below average precipitation for the 2022 growing season, the past 30 days have the southern part of the province solidly in the red, below 40 per cent of average.

 

For Calgary-area canola producers, their short-term hopes are very different from their long-term dreams when it comes to precipitation.

 

“At this point, the rain is not going to do a whole lot for canola producers in terms of developing the crop. Right now, the crop ... pretty much is what it is," said Ian Chitwood with the Alberta Canola Producers Commission.

 

"If we had a month of hot, dry weather, that would almost be ideal. We could get the crop off," Chitwood said.

 

"And then, you know what? If it wants to rain in October, great, rain for two weeks and then it can snow and leave some moisture out there for the spring.”