Hursh Consulting & Communications Inc.

The precipitation maps published by Agriculture Canada are widely used, but here’s a case that makes you wonder about the accuracy. Since the end of October, the maps show that Regina has had normal to a bit below normal precipitation. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s National Agroclimate Information Service is also cited as the source for the percentage of normal stats used at the back of The Western Producer. The latest issue of the paper lists Regina at 80 per cent of normal since November 1. However, Regina residents are talking about the mountain of snow they’ve had. Last week, The Regina LeaderPost ran a story quoting Environment Canada as saying that Regina has had a record amount of snow since the end of October. The 120.5 cm surpasses the previous record set back in 1973-74. It is possible that the snowfall this winter has had less water content than usual, but it seems improbable that Regina has had record snowfall and below normal precipitation. There is a disclaimer which says the Ag Canada maps may not be accurate for all regions due to data availability and data errors. There certainly appears to be an error in this case. I’m Kevin Hursh.