Winter could be colder than normal in the Prairies

Aug 25, 2020

The Canadian Farmers’ Almanac released its 2021 winter forecast

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

This winter could be chillier and with more snow than what some farmers in Western Canada are used to.

The Canadian Farmers’ Almanac recently published its 2021 long-range weather forecast. The weather resource is completely digital this year.

Snow could start to fall across the Prairies before December, said Peter Geiger, editor of the almanac.

“We’re calling for a lot of cold weather, a lot of snow and some mixed precipitation thrown in during the winter as well,” he told Farms.com. “In the middle of November, we start talking about wet snow, more snow at the end of the month, and then snow into December and over Christmas.”

A severe storm could hit Manitoba between December 28 and 31, he said.

Snow will continue to be the theme in Western Canada once the calendar changes to 2021.

The end of January will also bring very cold temperatures, Geiger said.

“The latter part of the month will be very cold with widespread snow starting as we get into February,” he said.

Snow events could occur weekly in February and into March. One date range in particular sticks out.

“From March 24 to 27, a major storm from the U.S. will push north bringing snow, rain and more precipitation,” Geiger said.

One weather event that may not occur this year is temperatures that drop into the -40s C.

The almanac warned of that possibility last year, but nothing has shown up on the Farmers’ Almanac forecast heading into 2021, Geiger said.

“Usually, if we see instances of extreme cold, we’ll make a note of it in our forecasts, but I don’t see it anywhere in the predictions this year,” he said. “Could it happen though? Of course.”

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.