Reading Time: 2 minutes Prairie farmers don't have to go far right now to see and feel the effects of smoke in the atmosphere — but what their crops will experience this year is a more complicated matter.
What we know about how wildfire smoke affects Prairie crops
Impacts depend on smoke quantity, plant progress, surrounding weather conditions
India’s monsoon stalls after early start
Monsoon to pick up again around June 11
Reading Time: 2 minutes Rainfall over India is likely to remain subdued for over a week as the annual monsoon’s progress has stalled after its earliest onset in 16 years, though it is likely to pick up again from June 11, two senior weather bureau officials said on Monday.
Most crops off to good start
Some parts of the Prairies are very dry, but provincial crop specialists say it’s still early in the season
Reading Time: 3 minutes Some parts of the Prairies are very dry, but provincial crop specialists say it's still early in the season
Pulse weekly: Early start expected for Indian monsoon
Rains bode well for crop production
Reading Time: 2 minutes The onset of India’s annual southwest monsoon is expected over the next four-to-five days, which would make for the earliest start of the rainy season since 2009 and sets the stage for good crop production going forward.
Prairie forecast: Cool long weekend expected for Saskatchewan and Manitoba
Forecast issued May 14, covering May 14 to 21, 2025
Reading Time: 3 minutes Across the eastern Prairies, all eyes are on the breakdown of the western trough and the resulting ejection of the final area of low pressure. The weather models are still trying to get a handle on this feature.
Prairie forecast: Hot east, cool west
Forecast issued May 7, covering May 7 to 14, 2025
Reading Time: 3 minutes We saw a strong ridge of high pressure build in last week, which brought daytime highs into the low thirties across parts of the eastern Prairies. Once the ridge collapsed, cooler air moved back in. Well, it looks like we can expect another cycle of building and collapsing ridges. Then, starting on the weekend, the weather pattern should become more energetic thanks to a strong trough of low pressure forecasted to develop off the West Coast.
Seasonal outlook points to hot Canadian spring/summer
Reading Time: < 1 minute Warmer than normal temperatures are to be expected across most of Canada over the next three months, according to the latest long-range seasonal forecast from Environment and Climate Change Canada as of April 30.
Prairie forecast: Here comes the summery weather
Forecast issued April 30, covering April 30 to May 7, 2025
Reading Time: 3 minutes Well, one week is up and as I pointed out in last week's forecast, the weather pattern still looks like it is going to flip from a cool-ish spring regime right into a summer-like pattern. This flip should happen over the next few days.
Prairie forecast: Warm weather gaining ground
Forecast issued April 23, covering April 23 to 30, 2025
Reading Time: 3 minutes We start this forecast period with an area of low pressure exiting the eastern Prairie and taking the rain and wet snow with it. To the west, a weak frontal system looks ready to drop into northern Alberta where it should bring scattered showers.
Prairie forecast: Temperature rollercoaster to continue
Forecast issued April 16, covering April 16 to 23, 2025
Reading Time: 3 minutes Spring is the toughest time to forecast, but this spring is being particularly tough. The atmosphere is in a very meridional flow right now. That means there are lots of troughs and ridges. So, instead of a persistent westerly flow across our region we are seeing warm southerly flows as ridges build, followed by cool northerly flows as the ridges collapse and are replaced by troughs of low pressure.
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
