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Weather Network Fall Forecast Looks Good for Harvest

The 2024 Canadian harvest should come off the fields without any serious or extended weather problems if the Weather Network’s fall forecast is on the money. 

Released Wednesday, the forecast suggests warmer-than-normal temperatures for most of the country, along with typical amounts of precipitation, except for extreme southwestern Alberta which may see greater amounts (see maps below). The extended period of pleasant fall weather is expected to last well into October, especially in the eastern part of the country, giving producers plenty of opportunity for fieldwork. 

Still, it won’t all be clear sailing. The forecast warned that changeable weather is the trademark of the fall season, “and this year will be no exception.” The Weather Network also noted the potential for an abrupt transition to a colder pattern before the end of the fall season. 

Alberta has already experienced some hefty temperature swings through late August and early September, the forecast said, with record-breaking heat interrupted by shots of much cooler weather. Those changeable temperature patterns will continue through the fall, but the warm periods are expected to outweigh the periods of colder weather, it added. 

For Saskatchewan and Manitoba, a similar temperature pattern is likely to play out, with periods of warmth offsetting bouts of cold. Near-normal precipitation is expected across most of the two provinces, but eastern parts of Manitoba are expected to tip to the dry side of normal. 

Ontario has also already experienced some fall-like temperatures, but the Weather Network said the rest of September will feature a prolonged stretch of very warm and mostly dry weather across the province, including London and Toronto. Warmer than normal temperatures are expected to dominate during most of October as well. 

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Welcome to the conclusion of the Getting Through Drought series, where we look at the best management practices cow-calf producers in Alberta can use to build up their resiliency against drought.

Our hope is that the series can help with the mental health issues the agriculture sector is grappling with right now. Farming and ranching are stressful businesses, but that’s brought to a whole new level when drought hits. By equipping cow-calf producers with information and words of advice from colleagues and peers in the sector on the best ways to get through a drought, things might not be as stressful in the next drought. Things might not look so bleak either.

In this final episode of the series, we are talking to Ralph Thrall of McIntyre Ranch who shares with us his experience managing grass and cows in a pretty dry part of the province.