The wettest month of the year is usually June, and to the delight of farmers, we've had plenty of storms coming through the area to help prove that true. Moisture levels were already looking good heading into the month, thanks to a heavy rainfall in May, but some consistent rains were also needed to help those plants along through the growing season.
Southeast Agrologist Edgar Hammermeister says we've seen some good moisture that's kept those plants growing.
"The crops are looking actually quite good overall. That May moisture helped to carry the crops for a good, good amount of time here, and the rain that we had this past weekend was very timely."
Hammermeister has previously characterized the southeast as having an east-west split for moisture, where the further west you travel through the area, the drier the soil gets.
He says that's been holding up as the rains coming through haven't hit every area.
"This past system was quite streaky. I wasn't very far apart, and areas would just get a couple of tenths of rain, and then a half inch and then other areas would get an inch or a little bit more. Although it was a large system overall, where there was any significant amount of rain, it was in bands."
The streaky area tended to be variable around the Macoun and Midale area, all the way to the Manitoba border.
Another notable feature of June has been a lack of extreme heat, with almost no days reaching the 30-degree mark and no heat warnings being sent out by Environment Canada.
While that may slow down growth, Hammermeister is still happy with milder, stable conditions.
"At the moment, it's not a concern. When there are cool conditions like this, the crops are growing more slowly, but it's also no stress. So it's very, very mild. Then the moisture that we did have is being used by the crop to help produce potential yield rather than being evaporated from the soil straight into the atmosphere. So that's very, very helpful."
"If it continues to be cool, it's something that will start being on the minds of farmers here as we get into the growing season. Because it's a long time out, but there's that threat of frost for those who were caught by the rain and were delayed in their seeding."
The overall outlook for seeding is also progressing well as Hammermeister hopes for more steady weather over the next couple of months.
"Things are looking very good right now for yield potential. It all depends on what actually comes to pass in July and August. I think the projections for June are that we're supposed to have kind of average conditions, for whatever that means from a weather perspective, but an average that we should get some moisture and keep the crops going."
"There are some initial longer-term outlooks suggesting that we're going to get heat in July and August. So for the crops that were seeded earlier, they'll be far enough advanced that that shouldn't have too large an impact as long as we don't have scorching heat very quickly. But for the crops that got seeded later, it's going to be a growing concern. Now it is a long-term outlook, and a lot of things can change in the meantime. But it's something that's going to be on farmers' minds here going forward."
Hammermeister says he hopes that good weather continues, noting that pastures and haylands have also been enjoying the plentiful moisture.