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Precipitation maps can show a lot of deviation depending upon who’s putting them together. Yesterday’s crop report from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture includes a colour-coded precipitation map for the week ending June 22 as well as a map of total accumulated precipitation since April 1. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada publishes ongoing precipitation maps on its Drought Watch website. There are a lot of differences between the two sources. Take the area where I farm northwest of Swift Current. According to Ag Canada, rainfall in the past week has been less than an inch. According to the Sask Ag crop report, rainfall topped two inches. That’s quite a discrepancy. Based on farm rain gages in the immediate area, Sask Ag seems to have it right. There are a lot of other discrepancies as well, such as in a big area northeast and southeast of Regina where Sask Ag says there was over two inches and Ag Canada has it pegged at a lot less. The accumulated precip maps since April 1 also look significantly different between the two sources. Rainfall can vary a great deal over a short distance, and the Sask Ag maps are probably more accurate since they’re based on measurements taken by volunteer crop reporters in nearly every rural municipality. I’m Kevin Hursh.
Kevin Hursh, PAg, CAC