Two local communities reported the highest gusts in the province, according to Environment Canada. Deloraine clocked in at 119kms an hour, with Minto following at 113km per hour.
The winds eased up Friday to some degree, but some roads still suffered from near blackout conditions. Manitoba Hydro reported it was still working on cleanup and restoring power on that day. Temperatures later dropped, with a cold rain by Sunday.
One of the concerns with the slow coming spring has been in the farming community. It has been an on-again, off-again start to the planting season, with hopes of improvement soon. AJ Armstrong of Armstrong Seeds, located southeast of Boissevain, said spring finally coming for sure would be helpful.
“We haven’t had the best weather,” Armstrong stated. “Things were delayed. We finally got a bit of rain which we needed.”
He said some farms had “exchanged” a little topsoil during the windstorm. He felt they did not do too badly on their farm, as they zero-till or use minimal tillage, which helps keep the soil down. He has not heard of anyone having to reseed anything from the wind, which is good news.
Despite the weather being cooler this year thus far, Armstrong said producers have been able to get out on the fields. There were enough warm days over the last couple of weeks to get the soil ready and farmers have been able to do a fair bit of seeding. He said in the Boissevain-Deloraine-Killarney area, they have likely put in almost all of the cereals, with half to three-quarters of soybeans. Canola had not taken off, but Armstrong added that usually starts this week, and he said they were planning on getting those acres started right away.
“Really, in our area, we’re not that far behind. It depends on the conditions, but we’re only a few days behind.”
One aspect they did have a good start with was moisture. Armstrong said they had a fair bit of rain last fall, and snow was decent this winter. This gives producers something to start on. However, more is needed. He figured they received about 1/4 of an inch where they are on Sunday, but another bit would be welcome.
“We could certainly use some moisture. The two-day dust storm didn’t help that either. It even drifted into the ditches.”
Although people were looking to get back out on the fields as soon as they could, he feels most would take the moisture now even if it meant a slight delay.
The other issue is temperature. We definitely need warmer days. Armstrong said they need moisture to get things going and the sun and warmth to help germinate the seeds.
Overall, however, Armstrong said there is no reason for pessimism at this point. Forecasts are saying the temperatures should start to improve by the end of the week, maybe even getting to 30°C at the beginning of next week. His customers started out with a great deal of optimism and the bit of rain last weekend will help keep that going.
“I think the conditions are good overall,” he explained. “I think it’s a good start. We will need timely rains, but if we get that and warmer weather, things will be looking good.”
by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff