Manitoba Agriculture reports that intense rains, hail and strong winds that occurred in the province over the past week continues to be a problem in many areas for crops.
We saw some precipitation come through across Manitoba. We had rains and isolated thunderstorms again. We did have some severe hail in certain areas as well as strong winds and potential tornadoes. We saw some hail in the southwest area around Killarney, north of Hartney, Wawanesa and it was quite significant on a lot of crops, from the size of a loonie up to the size of a golf ball or a baseball. So, we did see quite significant crop damage there.
At this point, the fields are being assessed for potential regrowth, depending on how it will impact the yield. Overall, some areas are sitting at more than 200 percent of normal, especially in the northwest in terms of precipitation. And then in the central eastern, we are sitting around that 80 percent of the 30-year average. Again, a lot of areas had excess moisture already so this is going to continue to add to that. But we do have some warmer temperatures scheduled, which will hopefully help to dry out some fields but it definitely has added to some continued excess moisture stress in a lot of areas.
~ Sonia Wilson, Manitoba Agriculture
Wilson says crops can typically tolerate a couple of days under water and there are crops that have been in standing water for a long period, especially in the low spots.
