Sask. farmers feel relief after recent rainfall

With the past 12 months being some of the driest farmers have seen in a long time, the recent days of rain are nothing but good news for producers.

The forecast from Environment Canada called for up to 10 millimetres, or one-third of an inch, of rain Friday in Regina and up to 20 mm — just under an inch — in Saskatoon.

Both cities have another chance of rain for Friday night and Saturday.

In other areas of the province, Weyburn received 41 mm — 1.6 inches — and Cypress Hills Park got around 30 mm, just over an inch.

Before noon on Friday, both cities had around 15 mm, or half an inch, of rainfall over 48 hours.

Todd Lewis farms near Gray, about 40 kilometres south of Regina.

He said the best word to describe the rainfall is “relief.”

“The timing of it couldn’t be much better for a lot of producers, we’ve got the crop in the ground and in many cases, we had some germination,” Lewis said.

The farmer, who hasn’t seen this type of dry conditions since the 80s, said they are going to need more rain throughout the summer to get a good crop.

“This will look after our immediate needs in a lot of cases anyway,” Lewis said.

Lesley Kelly and her family farm in Watrous. She said right now, they’re “doing the happy dance.”

“When you don’t see any rain in the forecast, it could make things a little nerve-racking,” Kelly said.

She added they were having to change their seeding plan by doing the high-ground first and looking at more drought-tolerant crops.

Both Lewis and Kelly agree it’s going to get them off to a good start, but with the weather being so unpredictable, it’s tough to plan ahead.

“You can have perfect seed placement, spend lots of money on good quality seed and fertilizer and do everything right, but if you don’t have moisture, you don’t have anything,” Lewis said.

During the month of May, Regina received 25.4 mm of rain while Saskatoon got 34.7 mm — one inch and 1.4 inches respectively.

Environment Canada Meteorologist Dan Koulak said the current rains are widespread across the southern parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

“It’s welcome for a lot of people out there,” Koulak said, adding it’s a needed change with May being the warmest its been in 41 years.

“These coming rains will be, maybe, the billion-dollar rains that will help and provide some optimism about farming. It’s almost as if nature has forgotten how to precipitate in parts of Saskatchewan,” said David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada.

The rain isn’t expected to stick around,however, with sunshine expected on Sunday.

Phillips is forecasting the next couple months to be warmer than normal.