With a milder winter and now a beautiful spring, what will summer look like?  Hot and dry like last year or cooler with more precipitation?

Applied Research Specialist with MB Agriculture, Scott Chalmers, says when it comes to climate pattern the word is that El Nino is weakening, and La Nina is strengthening. 

So, what does that mean for our 2024 growing season? 

Chalmers says that crossover takes place in about June, but we really don't know if El Nino will persist. 

"It doesn't look like it's going to persist.  It's changing more to La Nina.  El Nino is associated with hot, dry summers, whereas La Ninas are a bit more wet and not as hot." 

"That being said," he adds. "Worldwide, 2023-2024 is the hottest year on record so far, 13 months running, but that doesn't mean that we're going to feel days that we experienced in, say the 1990's when it was a little cooler.  I think global warming is just going to heat things up in general.  So, what we think is cool, probably isn't as cool as it used to be, and I think we experienced the winter like that where it's been quite nice."

"Even our spring has been quite nice," says Chalmers, "I don't remember the last time we did have a frost; it's been weeks almost."

"So, we certainly got a warm start and I think we've got some nice sunny days ahead here after this rain system comes through and our ground is quite warm. So, I don't want to get anybody in the field doing canola right away because we could still have that frost. We just can't see it in the forecast in this moment, but that doesn't mean the May long weekend won't be miserable."