‘Multimillion-dollar rains for lots of farms': Weekend weather a ‘game-changer' for southern Alberta farmers

CTV News

4 hours ago

Heavy rain over the past weekend has farmers in southern Alberta feeling optimistic about the season ahead after a dry, hot spring.
Heavy rain over the past weekend has farmers in southern Alberta feeling optimistic about the season ahead after a dry, hot spring.
'We've gone from where we, honestly, probably wouldn't have even combined to having an average to potentially a little better than average crop,' said Stephen Vandervalk, a farmer near Fort Macleod.
'They talk about million-dollar rains, but these are multimillion-dollar rains for lots of farms.'
According to Environment Canada, Lethbridge received 59 mm of rain between Friday and Saturday.
Stavely received 114 mm, while Cardston saw 52.3 mm of precipitation over the weekend.
'I've heard from some of my irrigators that it could be a real game-changer for this year's crop yield because of the time it came and the amount of volume that we got in some areas,' said David Westwood, general manager of the St. Mary River Irrigation District (SMRID).
Earlier this spring, the SMRID set an allocation rate of 12 inches, slightly below normal, but five inches more than 2024.
Westwood says the rainfall should help ensure that number doesn't decrease over the summer months.
'We saw an uptick in all of our reservoirs, mainly due to a lack of use, but obviously the rainfall actually contributed to some rising levels as well,' said Westwood.
The Rocky Mountains in southern Alberta also saw added moisture.
Castle Mountain Resort recorded snow at higher elevations on Saturday.
'The webcams were a little bit white in the alpine here on Saturday. … When you're in the ski business, it's always nice to see,' said Cole Fawcett, sales and marketing manager at Castle Mountain.
Clean-up underway
City of Lethbridge crews spent the start of the work week removing fallen trees and branches throughout Henderson Park.
'It was a really busy weekend,' said Leanne Lammertsen, water and wastewater operations manager with the City of Lethbridge.
'We were set up well with folks with rakes and shovels in different areas in the city looking for different problems.'
311 received a total of 81 sewer-related and 26 tree-related calls during the storm.
Lammertsen says in 2020, the city updated its process for its rain event response, with this past weekend being the first time it was enacted.
'Everything that we laid out worked really well, and we had a really good process,' she said.
'We followed it, and it turned out really well. We were really lucky that the storm was as slow and steady as it was, and it lasted a long time and we had lots of notice.'
Lammertsen says while the wastewater treatment plant saw 'significantly increased flows,' there were no major issues reported.
Fire bans lifted
The added moisture in the soil has meant the lifting of fire bans for Lethbridge's river valley and Lethbridge County.
Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services (LFES) says the recent changes in weather conditions, including higher humidity levels, have reduced the fire risk in the area.
LFES says precautions should still be taken when having outdoor fires.