Rain is falling across many parts of Saskatchewan, but is it enough to help offset the drier than normal conditions seen in many parts of the province?
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency said there have been 111 Forest fire More than double the five-year average of 41 in the province this year.
Five of those fires were still active as of Monday.
Despite the recent moisture seen in many areas, several rural municipalities across the province have declared fire bans.
While most of Saskatchewan has a low to moderate rating on the fire weather index, there are still several areas with high potential fire severity.
Ray Orb, president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), said recent rains have helped drought conditions, but there are still many areas that are quite dry, pointing to the southwest region.
“We know there has been very little moisture in that area so far this spring,” Orb said.
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He was optimistic with some forecasts stating that there could be a lot of rain in the area soon.
He said that a SARM director living in that area said that they have received about 10-12 mm of rain so far.
Orb was hopeful that they would not face drought conditions this year, but said it was too early to say.
He said that now there is good moisture in the ground due to sowing of seeds and cattle producers need to grow grass.
“It has been a slow start. “It’s been pretty good compared to most years.”
He said fire bans, concerns about wildfires and wildfire smoke still remain in place in many rural municipalities.
Meteorologist Peter Quinlan said places like Saskatoon and Regina could potentially see 10-20 mm of rain.
“The southwest and west central parts of the province could see in the range of 20-30 mm,” Quinlan said.
He said that Cyprus Hills may receive 50-70 mm of rain till Wednesday.
“We’re still a little bit behind what we typically see in May,” Quinlan said, adding that we’re coming off a series of drier than normal conditions.
“We really need to see more systems like this in the coming weeks. June is usually the hottest month of the year.
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