Those in both agriculture and recreation in Saskatchewan have been wishing for snow in recent months. Now that snow has finally fallen across much of the province, some are breathing a sigh of relief, but for others it may be a little too late.
Mission Ridge Winter Park – located about 75 kilometers east of Regina – welcomes the snow with enthusiasm. Anders Svenson, manager of the park, said the cold temperatures mean ski hill operators can finally expect satisfied customers on the slopes.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for so far this season: real cold temperatures so we can make a lot of snow very quickly. So we’re very excited,” Svenson said.
He said Mission Ridge makes 100 percent of its own snow all season long. Warm temperatures can limit the amount they can produce. Ideal snowmaking conditions usually require temperatures below -10 C. Svenson told CBC in December that it would take about 400 hours to completely cover the park under these conditions.
On Monday he said the park could operate partially over the Christmas period despite the dry weather. But the forecast cold temperatures have him optimistic the hill will be fully open for the remainder of the winter season.
“Less natural snow doesn’t make people think about skiing. If everything around you is brown, you don’t really think about skiing. So we’ve seen a bit [of] reduced numbers,” Svenson said.
According to the park’s manager, between 10 and 15 million gallons of water have been loaded into snow cannons like this one to make snow on Mission Ridge this season. (Ethan Williams/CBC)
As skiers prepare for the new powder snow, farmers like Ian McCreary are still concerned about the lasting effects of last summer’s drought.
“This amount of snow won’t make or break next year’s harvest. Most of southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta are in perhaps one of the worst droughts of my lifetime,” said McCreary, a grain and livestock farmer in the area Bladworth. kilometers southeast of Saskatoon.
He said his country has about 2.5 meters of mostly dry land, which is consistent with what the International Panel on Climate Change predicted. Droughts were said to become more severe and frequent.
Farmers are happy with any moisture
Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel, a former president of the Canadian Wheat Growers Association and a farmer in Mossbank, about 70 kilometers southwest of Moose Jaw, said this is the eighth year in a row her farm has suffered from drought. She said more snow could boost crop prospects.
“For the past seven years we have had little annual rainfall, so not enough water for us to grow our usual higher yielding crop, and we rely heavily in winter on good rain in autumn, good rain for winter, good rain.” in the spring or in a beautiful fluffy white snow,” Jolly-Nagel said.
But Jolly-Nagel said she is prepared if it stays dry.
“Every generation of farmers before me has experienced this drought and there is not much we can do about it,” she said.
“I take some comfort in knowing that previous farmers and our families have been through this, experienced it and got through it. I would say we have much better insurance programs available to us now. So I’m grateful for that.”
Ian McCreary, a grain and cattle farmer in the Bladworth area, says Saskatchewan is experiencing one of the worst droughts in its lifetime. He says the latest snowfall will do little to help the next round of harvests. (Chanss Lagaden/CBC)
McCreary said while he believes the moisture brought on by the snowfall won’t make a difference in next season’s harvest, any moisture is always welcome.
“We’ve never lost a crop in January. So you never have to give up a crop in January. Two inches of rain in the summer at the right time will certainly help and give us something,” McCreary said.
“I think everyone at this time of year is looking at their operations to say which crops are doing a little bit better under drought conditions than others. In our case, what are those crops that are doing a little bit better under extreme locust pressure?”
McCreary said it’s best for farmers to get seeds in the ground as early as possible to take advantage of any spring snowmelt.
Meanwhile, McCreary emphasized that these droughts are the result of greenhouse gas emissions. He said everyone must do their part to keep emissions low.
The drought trend continues
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says conditions in southern and central Saskatchewan have been generally dry in recent years, and noticeably drier between the 2022/23 fall/winter season and the 2023/24 fall/winter season.
“Some of this stems from a trend that started to form as early as 2020,” said Natalie Hazel, warning preparedness meteorologist for ECCC.
“The fact that it has remained so dry remains a concern.”
Much of central and southern Saskatchewan finally got the snowfall it had been waiting for over the weekend of January 6. (CBC/Radio Canada)
Hazel said parts of central and parts of southern Saskatchewan will see some precipitation in the coming days, but not “huge amounts of snow.”
December was warm in the province, but now the ground is frozen as temperatures have dropped. That means, Hazel said, the ground will likely remain dry.
“So even if we had liquid precipitation, it’s not going to go anywhere. It’s just going to sit on top of the ground or run off and so it won’t end up in the ground. And what we need is liquid in the ground.”
Hazel said farmers will be watching to see what happens when the melting begins in the spring, and how much precipitation graces the Prairies.