Winter precip still below normal

One big snowstorm hasn’t been enough to bring winter precipitation back up to normal. The system that came through the province around January 23 dropped a lot of snow over a wide region, but there wasn’t much base for it to build on. For the month of January, precipitation maps show northeast and east central Saskatchewan recorded above normal precipitation. An area from Melfort to Wynyard had more than one and a half times normal precip. There are also areas of above normal January precip in south central and southeastern Saskatchewan. The rest of the province though and virtually all the Prairie region were below normal for January despite the snowstorm. If you look at the three-month map covering November, December, and January there are only isolated pockets where precip has been close to normal. In the vast majority of the Prairie region, winter precipitation has been well below normal. For a decent spring runoff and the recharge of surface water supplies, it appears we’ll be looking for more snowfall in the months ahead. I’m Kevin Hursh.