Brody Langager
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Those hoping for rain in Saskatchewan — from firefighters to farmers — may have their wish granted in the coming days.
“It’s actually looking like a pretty wet and windy weekend in store for a lot of the province,” says Crawford Luke, a meteorologist with Environment Canada.
According to Luke, many areas of Saskatchewan could see between 15 and 30 millimetres of rain.
Over the past week, rain has fallen in isolated areas, not really sweeping across the province, he said.
“Every day there’s been isolated showers and thunderstorms, particularly in the southern half of the province,” Luke said.
That doesn’t necessarily benefit the entire region, because a quick drive down the road might reveal that no rain hit there.
“This weekend is actually looking different. We have a fairly substantial low-pressure system that is coming out of Wyoming.”
He said the north end of that low-pressure system will sweep into Saskatchewan.
A widespread rainfall across the province could be on its way, he added, reaching into areas around Prince Albert and La Ronge, which are being hit with wildfires.
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency said the provincial fire ban was dropped on Tuesday due to favourable weather, but noted that parks, municipalities and rural municipalities may still have fire bans in effect.
Luke didn’t want to promise how much rain those northern areas might see.
“Saskatoon and Regina are probably both in store for a pretty wet weekend,” he said.
“If we get some thunderstorms mixed in, that can always increase the rainfall amounts as well,” Luke added.
Chad Ross, board chair for the Saskatchewan Cattle Association, said this rain was very much welcome, but added that more is needed.
“There’s pretty widespread drought across the province in the south and in the north,” Ross said.
There are parts of the province that haven’t seen substantial rain in about seven or eight years, he noted.
“It’ll be a nice start, but (the rain) will have to keep coming throughout the summer.”
Luke said the province is expected to see warmer than normal temperatures this summer. The precipitation expected for this summer is a little less clear, but Luke said it seems like it’s trending to be dryer than normal.
“Based on how the last few months have been, we’re sort of running at 50 per cent of the average precipitation across the province.”
Ross said it is probably too late to save the hay crop this year, but cereal crops may still have a chance.
“A rain would surely be welcome for the cereal crops up there. I think that would be very timely to keep them going, so hopefully we get that (rain) this weekend.”
He said the rain will also help out the pastures, noting many farmers are buying hay to feed their cattle right now.
Ross said discussions are underway to figure out how to help producers, noting that talks are happening with the provincial government and options are being explored.
He said the AgriStability business risk management program might kick in for some producers this year, and suggested farmers look into signing up for it.
Ross said the Saskatchewan Cattle Association is also helping producers as a liaison, to help connect producers who are buying feed or moving cattle.
“We’re there to help our producers.”
