Drought in Western Canada is becoming an agricultural nightmare for farmers

In a world scorched by high temperatures, Canada’s Western provinces – home to more than 80 per cent of Canada’s farmable lands – have been the country’s hot spot this week. On Friday, the forecast high in Medicine Hat, Alberta was around 104° Fahrenheit.

Weeks of hot weather across the Prairies and in British Columbia, combined with a lack of rain in some areas, are hitting many agricultural producers and creating long-term worries about how parched future years will be. Warmer temperatures mean even when the rains come, evaporation can wick much of the moisture away.

“There are folks up here that are talking about liquidating, simply because there is no feed available to them,” said farmer Lynn Grant. “The right word is pathetic.”

In Alberta, the Agriculture and Forestry department says that several lands across southern Alberta have seen less than a half inch of rain since July 15 – far less than is needed to sustain a crop. In many parts of the southern province, moisture accumulation for the past three months is the lowest rainfall level in as long as 25 years. In a few pockets, there are 50-year lows.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-drought-in-western-canada-is-becoming-an-agricultural-nightmare-for/

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Remember the GOP U.S. Senator who brought a snowball into the U.S. Senate in the middle of winter and joked about global warming, saying it’s a myth?