Drought across Western Canada was basically unchanged in April, despite areas of well above normal precipitation.
Released Thursday, the latest monthly update of the Canadian drought monitor showed 99% of Prairie agricultural lands impacted by abnormally dry or drought conditions as of the end of last month. This despite the fact swathes of the region saw upwards of 150% of normal April precipitation - in between pockets of precipitation of less than 60% of normal.
Areas of Western Canada did see huge amounts of rain this week, but that won’t be reflected until the release of the May drought monitor.
“Multi-year precipitation deficits remained the concern as very low snowpack was reported throughout much of Western Canada,” the monitor said.
In Alberta, long-term precipitation deficits did begin to improve in April in the heavily drought impacted areas in the south. To that end, there was a small reduction in severe, extreme, and exceptional drought west and north of Medicine Hat.
However, deficits in the Peace Region worsened in April. The area has received less than 60% of normal precipitation since July of last year, indicated by limited snowpack, low streamflows and an early start to the wildfire season.
“Nearly all of Alberta is at risk of significant drought impacts with a mixture of both short- and long-term deficits plaguing large swaths of the province. Significant precipitation is still needed to see many of these impacts subside.”
Precipitation across most of the agricultural regions of Saskatchewan was split between below-normal and near-normal monthly precipitation. West-central and south-central areas received less than 60% of normal while the rest of agricultural Saskatchewan received between 85 to 115% of normal.
Drought changes were minor across Saskatchewan in April, with slight reductions to long-term drought in west-central parts of the province and a slight increase in severe drought in the southern part of the province both due to either improved or degraded short-term moisture conditions.
Precipitation across Manitoba was generally above normal, with much of the province receiving more than 150% of normal precipitation in April.
Southern Manitoba saw improvements to drought conditions last month, including a reduction in moderate and severe drought and the removal of extreme drought due to recent short-term precipitation events.
However, the monitor warned southern Manitoba is still vulnerable to drought conditions and will be closely watched for changes this upcoming spring and summer.
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