Above average soil moisture

LETHBRIDGE-With the record-setting temperatures in Southern Alberta this winter, snow-covered fields have been replaced with muddy brown ones.  However, the lack of snow can be deceiving when it comes to moisture in the ground.

“Conditions are above average right now,” said Joe Michielsen with Alberta Agriculture.

Top soil can be dry to the touch, but once you dig down it’s a different story.  Michielsen says the lack of cold has been good for the ground.

“I did some samples today and there is no frost in the ground at all, so any precipitation we get now is going to soak in unless we get some cold snaps that could freeze the surface again, but probably at depth we will not have frost anymore.”

All that moisture has created ideal growing conditions this spring for farmers.

“We have anywhere from 100 to 140 millimeters of water stored in the soil for the plants to use when the crop starts growing and through the dry times,” said Michielsen.

With all that moisture in the soil, and very little frost left in the ground, it can create problems for rural roads.  Rick Bacon with the County of Lethbridge says it’s starting already.

“The frost is deeper under the road base because of the traffic on it through the winter and the snow clearing efforts that allow the frost to penetrate deeper into the ground, so it take a little bit longer to come out than it would in the field but as we can see now, the frost is coming out through the road and it is creating soft sections.”

Michielsen says the abundant moisture is mostly due to heavy precipitation this area received in September and October,and says ever little bit we get helps.

“It can be real dry in this country so this is a real improvement from that.”