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Snow

First snow of the season welcomed by farmers

Oct 24, 2022 | 1:06 PM

MELFORT, Sask. – Although the snowfall across much of Saskatchewan made driving difficult it was welcomed by farmers.

It appears the system that brought the heavy snow won’t be around for long. The forecast is calling for temperatures above normal later in the week.

Ministry of Agriculture crops extension specialist Matt Struthers said after a dry fall every little bit helps.

“It’s the first snow of many, of course, as we go into winter. If we get those warm days and that moisture is able to get into the ground before the ground freezes that’ll be a huge improvement over what we saw last year going into the winter and coming out into the spring,” Struthers said.

The final crop report of the season indicated there was hardly any significant rainfall since August.

“it’s really good to see that it finally can snow or rain a little bit,” he said. “The nicest thing about this snowstorm that I heard is that it’s really widespread, you know, all the way down here in the South, all the way up towards Tisdale and so it’s really nice to see that Saskatchewan can still get a nice widespread precipitation event.”

Agriculture Producers Association of Saskatchewan President Ian Boxall farms in the Tisdale area. He received about two inches of snow yesterday but expects it to melt.

Boxall said the snow was great to see.

“A couple inches of snow on the ground and it’ll melt and get absorbed in and we’re happy for it,” Boxall said. “The forecast is showing plus 10 [Celsius]. I think there will be an opportunity that farmers can get back in the field if they need to do a little bit more fall work yet.”

alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

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