2009 Canadian Prairie Drought Situation

ere are some links to drought monitoring resources and media reports relating to the current drought conditions on the Canadian Prairies.

2009 Drought Overview

This link will take you to the current version of the 2009 Drought Overview DRI working document.

2009 Drought in the Media

  • Canada’s praire drought: Back to a dusty future - The Economist , July 23 2009
  • Parched Prairies: Latest drought a sign of things to come? - CBC News, July 10 2009
  • Farmers start to write off year as drought parches Prairie land - Patrick White, Globe and Mail
  • Prairie provinces face widespread drought - Canadian Press, July 1 2009
  • Canadian Press Article - Bill Graveland, June 16 2009

Drought Monitoring Information Sources
Provincially Specific

  • Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development
    • Agro Climatic Information Service
      • View current condition through Quick Viewer
    •  Drought Reports for the Agricultural Region of Alberta
  • Alberta Environment- Hydrometeorological Information Portal
  • Saskatchewan Agriculture
    • Weekly Crop Report (weekly summary of Saskatchewan crop conditions and precipitation during the growing season)
    • Stubble Subsoil Moisture Maps
  • Saskatchewan Watershed Authority (precipitation anomalies, groundwater hydrographs, streamflow observations and forecasts)
  • Manitoba Ag-Weather Program (current climatic conditions from the Ag-Weather Network, crop reports, etc..)

Regional/ National/International

  • Daily Soil Moisture Simulation with the VIC Model(courtesy of Lei Wen) [for Internet Explorer]
  • Drought Watch: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Drought Monitoring Website
  • Statistics Canada Standardized NDVI
  • Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey
    • Percent of Normal Spring Pond Count, May 2009
  • NOAA STAR-Global Vegetation Health Products
  • North American Drought Monitor

Drought Prediction Information Sources

  • Environment Canada Analyses and Modelling
    • Seasonal and Monthly Forecasts
  • Daily Soil Moisture Simulation with the VIC Model(courtesy of Lei Wen) [for Internet Explorer]

Pictures and Reports of the 2009 Drought

  • Survey of Drought Conditions between Edmonton and Saskatoon, July 2009. courtesy Geoff Strong
  • Stream near Ardrossan, AB courtesy Geoff Strong
    • Chart of precipitation relative to normal at Ardrossan
    • Map of location of stream (from photos) and Ardrossan

2009 Datasets

Collection of relevant datasets has begun and a table of currently available datasets is viewable here.