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    • 'We are in very bad shape': Dry winter in southern Alberta has farmers worried

    Harold Hawkwood discovered 60-centimetre deep cracks all over his ranch northeast of Cochrane, Alta. He says that a sign of how dry things are for farmers right now. Harold Hawkwood discovered 60-centimetre deep cracks all over his ranch northeast of Cochrane, Alta. He says that a sign of how dry things are for farmers right now.
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    Harold Hawkwood was doing chores when he found 60-centimetre deep cracks in the soil on his ranch northeast of Cochrane, Alta. — and he's never seen anything like it.

    Hawkwood has run Ironwood Ranches since 1980.

    "Actually we are in very bad shape," he said. "A lot of the dugouts are dry, the big sloughs have gone down and the water table has actually gone down."

    Calving season is just around the corner and soon it will be time to seed cereal crops.

    Hawkwood says last year's extremely hot summer combined with next to no rainfall means the ground was parched going into winter. Now, a lack of snow and plenty of wind have evaporated any remaining soil moisture.

    "I've talked to a few friends who have been doing some fencing and some construction work and they said there's no moisture (when they dig down)," said Hawkwood.

    "There's maybe a little bit of moisture in the top two inches but underneath that, there is absolutely no moisture."

    Ralph Wright manages the agrometeorological applications and modeling section for Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.

    He collects moisture data from all over southern Alberta and says February and March are typically the driest months of the year, seeing only 15 millimetres of precipitation.

    Wright says the weather is cyclical and this dry snap started five years ago.

    "Some areas southeast of Calgary have seen about 10 to 15 millimeters since Nov. 1 which, on average, they might get 40 to 50 (mm) by this time," he said.

    But Wright says in April and May, more precipitation will likely fall leading up to June, which is historically the wettest month in southern Alberta. He says the cracks Hawkwood found on his property may be helpful if a lot of rain falls at once, as moisture will be absorbed into the soil rather than run off it.

    "You know, if we get a really, really wet spring those cracks do a lot to mitigate flooding," he said. "That's the only positive side to it, I know it's a hard thing to be saying or thinking about but you know, if we're lucky and we get too much rain, we may be thankful that it was this dry."

    Wright says spring snowstorms happen quite regularly and would do a lot to alleviate any drought concerns. He says in 1967, two metres of snow fell and he says the data shows that year was very similar to the 2021 growing season.

    Hawkwood would like all the moisture he can get right now.

    "We need a big dump of snow especially in the month of March in April," he said. "We do fertilize hay fields so we need snow cover on top of the fertilizer so that it can be absorbed into the soil."

    Wright wishes he had access to a crystal ball to help ease farmers concerns.

    "The meteorological record shows very clearly that the weather of last month or last week or even last year is a very, very poor predictor of the weather of next week, next month next year, because it just changes on a dime," he said.

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