Manitoba’s hot, hot week is coming to a close, but not before a scorching finale this weekend.
Nearly the entire province, save for the stretch along Hudson’s Bay, was under a heat warning as of Saturday morning.
The ambient temperature in Winnipeg was set to top out higher than 30 C for the fifth straight day — and it could be the hottest of the bunch, with Environment Canada forecasting a high of 37.
For anyone out in the heat, it could feel closer to 39 or even 40 when factoring in the humidity.
The cause for these extreme temperatures? A “heat dome.” In the past week, a relatively unknown weather term has quickly burned its way into the minds of western Canadians.
“It’s just a large, strong area of high pressure in the upper part of the atmosphere,” Environment Canada meteorologist Justin Shelley told 680 CJOB.
“What it does, is it pushes warm air down to the surface, creates a stable environment … conditions favourable for high temperatures.”
Stable it has been, in Manitoba, with little to no breeze to break up the heavy hot air, which is atypical to a regular summer in the province.
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Saturday looks to be the exception, with winds gusting anywhere from 30 to 50 kilometres per hour.
As for any active weather, Shelley said there’s a chance of a storm — albeit a small one.
That’s exactly what farmers in the province didn’t want to hear.
Some timely rains in June alleviated early concerns about a drought-filled growing season, but just weeks later, those worries are back.
“We’re in desperate shape, and we’ll be in ‘next year’ territory if this keeps up much longer,” said agricultural correspondent Harry Siemens, adding that he has a growing collection of anecdotes just like that one from farmers all over the province.
“I drove up to Clear Lake this week just to look at crops,” Siemens explains. “I wasn’t seeing very good stuff out there.”
Siemens says a few Westman towns are doing better than others, but everyone needs help.
For him, it hearkens back to the 1988 growing season — one of the worst droughts he can remember in nearly eight decades of living in Manitoba.
“Back then, we had dust blowing around everywhere. The only reason we’re not getting that right now is because crops are in the ground.”
“But if this lack of moisture and heat continues, we’re getting into that area.”
It’s not exclusively Manitoba’s problem, either, Siemens said, sharing a note from a Montana farmer he reached out to online.
“‘Getting desperate over here. Spring wheat zeroed out by crop insurance. Flax and canola are toast. We may be haying some winter wheat that may not make it.’ There are lots of those kinds of stories.”
Temperatures are expected to cool off following another hot day on Sunday, and even dip below-seasonal by mid-week in the Red River Valley.
But without any rain coming down, Siemens fears it’ll be too little, too late for the 2021 growing season.
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