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Prairie forecast: Winter temperatures moving in

Issued Jan. 03, covering: Jan. 3 – 10

Reading Time: 3 minutes Looking at this forecast period, the best way I can describe it is that we will be seeing a slow slide into more seasonal temperatures. The persistent upper-level ridging that brought warm--and record warm temperatures--to much of the prairies in December has broken down. The weather models are showing a trough of low pressure developing over the west coast over the next seven days.

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Klassen: Feeder market quiets at year-end

Feeding margins have moved into negative territory, setting a negative tone for replacements

Reading Time: 2 minutes The last full week of 2023 was characterized by lower volumes and limited buying interest. Feedlot operators don’t want to weigh down schedules of hired hands over the holidays. Many auction barns were closed for the season while some held bred cows and bred heifer sales.


Winter is a good time to review farm transition plans.


Prairie forecast: One more week of above average temperatures

Issued Dec. 27, covering Dec. 27 to Jan. 3

Reading Time: 3 minutes As we head into a new year, it's looking like this could be the last mild forecast period before a switch to a more typical winter weather pattern. As usual, there is always a fair bit of uncertainty in forecasts beyond seven or so days, but we all knew that at some point we'd see some cold wintery weather move in.







Prairie forecast: Mild and dry weather right up to the holidays

Prairie forecast: Mild and dry weather right up to the holidays

Issued Dec. 13, covering Dec. 13 to Dec. 25

Reading Time: 3 minutes Here is the big picture: there are two current storm tracks across North America. The first, which is well to our north, is the storm track that would normally be across our region. So far this winter, it has been displaced to our north – one of the reasons we have been dry. The second storm track is well to the south across the southern U.S. This places us under a rather slack flow as we oscillate between pushes of warm and cool air with each passage of low-pressure to our north.