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“Billion dollar rainfall” for southern Alberta farmers

LETHBRIDGE COUNTY, AB – Farmers across the region are all smiles after some much-needed precipitation.

This region saw between 20-30 mm from last Thursday’s snowfall to the long week rain event. To put that into perspective, that is about 10-15 mm shy of equalling the entire precipitation total for the Lethbridge area for the entire year leading up to May 20th.

Ken Coles, the Executive Director of Farming Smarter in Lethbridge County says after a long, dry stretch this is exactly what local crops needed.

“You can’t get better timing for precipitation right after most folks are done seeding,” says Coles. “The downside to it was the frost that came along with it. There are quite a few farmers that are concerned, particularly with crops like canola where the growing point is above the ground. But for the most part it was a billion dollar rainfall for sure.”

With warmer and drier weather on the horizon, Coles expects crops will really start to take off now.

The long range forecast for the next few weeks heading into June indicate warm and generally dry weather across much of southern Alberta for a while.

Coles says farmers will also be busy spraying for weeds in the coming days.

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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