Recent News

• Fall valley view

  October 20, 2020

  The sun peeks through the clouds overlooking a creek valley in Western Manitoba. Snapped any great photos lately? Send them our way and each week we’ll select pictures for our online WeatherFarm photo gallery for all to view.

• NOAA calls for cold temps and heavy snow in northern U.S

  NOAA – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is calling for colder than normal temperatures and more precipitation in the northern states bordering the Canadian Prairies this winter, according to the United States agency’s first long range forecast for the upcoming winter. The forecast, released Oct. 15, also calls for warmer-than-normal temperatures and reduced precipitation […]

• Dust bowl ballads: Great Plains dust levels rising at 5% per year

  October 19, 2020

    University of Utah – Atmospheric dust levels are rising at an annual rate of five per cent in the United States Great Plains, raising concerns over a return of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, according to a new study from the University of Utah that examined data over the past three decades. The […]

• Antarctic ozone hole largest in years

  October 13, 2020

  World Meteorological Organization – The annually occurring ozone hole over the Antarctic is one of the largest and deepest in recent years, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The 2020 ozone hole grew rapidly from mid-August and peaked at around 24 million square kilometres in early October. It has started to shrink from its […]

• Argentina approves drought tolerant genetically modified wheat

  MarketsFarm – Argentina has become the first country in the world to approve the cultivation and consumption of a genetically modified wheat variety, the country’s National Commission for Science and Technology (CONICET) announced Oct. 8. “This is the first approval in the world for drought-tolerant genetic transformation in wheat,” the National Commission for Science and […]

• New tool has potential for screening frost-damaged crops

  October 6, 2020

  University of Adelaide – Agricultural scientists and engineers at the University of Adelaide have identified a potential new tool for screening cereal crops for frost damage. Their research, published this week in the journal Optics Express, has shown they can successfully screen barley plants for frost damage non-destructively with imaging technology using terahertz waves (which lie […]

• Redefining drought in the U.S. Corn Belt

  University of Illinois – As the climate trends warmer and drier, global food security increasingly hinges on crops’ ability to withstand drought. But are scientists and producers focusing on the right metric when measuring crop-relevant drought? Not exactly, according to new research from University of Illinois scientists, who urge the scientific community to redefine the […]

• Leading scientists sound alarm for world water cycle

  September 29, 2020

  University of Saskatchewan – Conversion of large swaths of land to uniform tree plantations and single-crop species may lead to unintended consequences for the water cycle, putting ecosystems at greater risk for fires, floods, droughts and even hurricanes, warns a think-tank group of almost 30 water scientists from 11 countries. Worldwide, policies are increasingly aimed […]

• Marine heatwaves are human made

  University of Bern – A marine heatwave (ocean heatwave) is an extended period of time in which the water temperature in a particular ocean region is abnormally high. In recent years, heatwaves of this kind have caused considerable changes to the ecosystems in the open seas and at the coast. Their list of negative effects […]

• August weather scares trim U.S. harvest projections

  September 22, 2020

  Manitoba Co-operator – U.S. corn and soybean production will be smaller than previously expected after dry weather throughout August and a severe windstorm that damaged crops across the key production state of Iowa, the U.S. Agriculture Department says. “August was a month of extreme weather and climate disasters,” USDA said in its monthly Crop Production […]