2021 moisture levels

I’d say we are dryer then normal but we had lots of snow early on that melted into the ground. Generally speaking snow cover for us never soak into the ground. We need rain spring rain to add soil moisture. I’d rather be on the dryer side then the wet side

We were dry going into winter but got average snowfall that some of which soaked in, that equates to still pretty dry.

If I had to make a comparison this weather pattern is nearly mimicking 2011-2012.

Extremely dry in south sask. Driest I have seen it, and many older than me guys are saying drier than anytime in the 80’s. Many stories of dugouts that froze right down to the dirt, and our little snow is almost gone and doesn’t look like much of any kind of runoff.
But lots of time for a spring storm yet.

Since October of 2019 when we got that insane dump of snow it has been extraordinarily dry. Last year basically used up all of our subsoil moisture and currently zero snow left. Not time to get concerned yet, but without some decent rain this year will be a struggle to hit normal production. 

I'm going to vote extremely dry, but that could all change with some good April showers.

I think the way the poll is set up you can change your vote, at least I can 😁. So until June 1st, if things change in your area you can change your vote.

Captain, I hope you're wrong about it being like 2012, that was a pretty crappy growing year around these parts.

Patterns are patterns until the trend breaks. Right now we're in a dry pattern and for some of our dirt that's going to be awesome, for some of our lighter soil not so good.

Southern Alberta is very dry. The last few weeks have seen several high winds that have blown a lot of soil. Moisture levels were okay going into winter, but the big dump we received in november is long gone on the wind, and every bit of snow since has blown away. Very little moisture from the snow has stayed this winter.

We'll be depending on irrigation this year for sure. I haven't heard much about mountain snowpack, but the downstream reservoirs are in pretty good shape. We may get some water rationing, but will be enough for good crops. Dryland guys are definite starting out dry this spring until some rain comes.

Yes absolutely.  It's normal nearly every year for some crops.  The catch is that the water turns on around May 1, but it's been as late as May 10th in the past.  Our farm policy is to never seed canola before the water is on.  And we like to irrigate before we seed canola in particular. It's possible to seed canola into dust and irrigate it out of the ground, but it takes finesse as irrigation can make the soil crust over in a hurry and make life very hard for those little seedlings.  Usually we plant wheat two to three weeks before the irrigation is on, but on very dry years people have been known to wait for the water.

The sum total of western Canada's onion production is in my area and they spend a lot of money building huge ponds to store water so they can run pivots before the irrigation water becomes available.  I wouldn't be surprised to see them start irrigating in a week or two.  I'm not familiar with what's required to grow onions but they till the heck out of their fields starting about now usually. I think it might be to get the soil to warm up.  Doing that dries it out badly, hence the need for early water.  Sweet corn growers too like to water as early as they can, so for guys pumping out of the river they might start irrigating 2nd week of April.