Daytime highs will struggle into the double digits this week before going back down to the 5 to 7 degree Celsius range on the weekend. (The normal high for this time of year is 16 degrees)
“Looking out ten days to two weeks, the weather pattern is not changing,” says Terri Lang, a meteorologist with Environment Canada. “It looks like it will stay below average. It does look dry, though.”
Farmers with crop on the field do not want to see any more moisture. Jim Wickett farms southeast of Rosetown, where 10 to 15 centimetres of snow fell on Friday and Saturday.
“There was a lot of moisture in the wet, heavy snow. It didn’t flatten the crops as much as I thought it would. Most of them are standing up quite good, at least in this area anyway.”
The Kindersley, Outlook and Conquest areas all picked up significant amounts of snow. The moisture is needed on dry pastures and crop land that has already been harvested. Combining in southern areas is 80 percent complete, but only 50 percent in central areas.
“As soon as you go north and northwest of Rosetown, they are behind and are looking at about a 50 percent average. There is definitely some slugging to do and certainly the further north you go, the more crop is out,” Wickett said.