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Canada Canola Production Threatened By Western Prairie Drought

Gail Martell
StormX
Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:47 UTC
www.stormx.com/agriculture

Canada Canola Production 06162009
© StormX

The USDA plugged in a low production estimate for the Canada 2009 canola crop on the June Supply-Demand report predicting the harvest would shrink 18% below last year -- a record setting season for both production and exports. The USDA estimate may not be low enough, considering how crop development has been delayed by severe cold and drought is threatening Alberta and western Saskatchewan.

The top canola province Alberta is experiencing the driest conditions since 2001. Subsoil moisture in the province had deteriorated to 38% poor, 42% fair, 19% good and 1% excellent, as of June 4th, according to the Alberta crop lettter. Key canola crop districts in central Alberta have not received any significant rainfall in the last 2-3 weeks.
Canada Canola Production 2001-2005
© StormX
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Phoenix

Alberta fights 22 out-of-control wildfires


United Press International
Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:43 UTC
Edmonton -- Some 480 firefighters in the western Canadian province of Alberta were battling at least 22 out-of-control wildfires Tuesday, officials said.

Dry weather conditions, lightning strikes and sparks from campfires were among the causes of the fires, the largest of which was burning near Fort McMurray, 270 miles northeast of Edmonton, the Edmonton Journal reported.

That fire had consumed more than 5,600 acres by Tuesday morning, officials said.

Various highways were closed throughout the province as flames approached or smoke reduced visibility to zero, the report said.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Not Enough Sunshine, Too Much Rain In Midwest Corn

Gail Martell
StormX
Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:37 UTC
www.stormx.com/agriculture

7 day precip
© StormX

Corn ratings are expected to drift lower on the June 12 USDA report, due to worsening wetness in the Central Midwest and insufficient sunlight in the week.

The Midwest Corn Belt experienced another wet week due to recurring showers along a horizontal front. The wettest areas where at least 2 inches of rainfall occurred were in the southern half of the Corn Belt. At least .75 inch of rainfall occurred on 85% of Midwest farms. It was too wet for corn development with prevailing cool temperatures.
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Bizarro Earth

US Winter Wheat Production Lower In Virtually Every State

Gail Martell
StormX
Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:09 UTC
www.stormx.com/agriculture

United States winter wheat production would shrink 376 million bushels and 20% from 2008, according to USDA's June crop production estimates. Virtually every state is expected to produce less wheat.

The steepest production cut is predicted in soft red winter wheat, down 32% from 2008, due primarily to sharply reduced crop acreage. Soft red winter wheat is used for cakes, cookies, crackers and snack foods and is produced heavily in the Midwest and Mid South.

The major "breadbasket" states in the Great Plains will produce 16% less wheat than last season. Output is predicted sharply lower in Oklahoma and Texas, where a drought and freeze exacted a heavy toll on wheat. The top US wheat state Kansas is expecting average production similar to 2008. Likewise Nebraska's outlook is little changed from last year. Colorado is expecting a much larger harvest compared with a poor crop in 2008.
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Bulb

Southeastern Missouri farmers try to overcome wet spring, soggy crops


fox4kc.com
Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:01 UTC
Bloomfield, Missouri - Southeastern Missouri's Mike Bell is among area farmers struggling to get crops planted after a wet spring.

Bell, of Bloomfield, usually has about 2,000 acres of corn planted by now. This year, he's has only 1,100 acres finished. Bell expects he'll face a harvesting date nearly a month late this fall. He was also behind on his soybean crop.
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Target

Canadian Wheat Output May Fall on Dry, Cool Weather

Tony C. Dreibus
Bloomberg
Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:57 UTC
Canada's wheat production may fall 18 percent this year as dry, cool conditions in the western Prairies slow crop development and wet weather in Manitoba delays seeding, the Canadian Wheat Board said today in a report.

The harvest may include 16.4 million metric tons of non- durum wheat, down from 20 million tons a year earlier, and 4.4 million tons of durum varieties, down from 5.5 million tons, the CWB said in a preliminary forecast. The U.S. Department of Agriculture yesterday predicted a Canadian crop of 25 million tons.

Cooler temperatures for the past four to six months may curb yields to 33.4 bushels an acre, the lowest initial projection in seven years, Bruce Burnett, the director of weather and market analysis at the CWB, said today in a conference call.

"Cold weather across the Prairies this spring has had a detrimental effect on planting and early crop development in most growing regions," Burnett said. "Soil moisture levels are dangerously low in parts of Alberta and western Saskatchewan, where dry conditions have persisted since fall."
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Cloud Lightning

US: Strong storms soak Plains states


United Press International
Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:29 UTC
Strong thunderstorms pounded the Kansas City, Mo., area, overnight, downing trees, filling waterways and leaving thousands powerless, officials said Tuesday.

The line of storms packed hurricane-force, straight-line winds that uprooted trees, damaged foundations and tossed cars across the road, KMBC-TV, Kansas City, reported. Utility companies along the storms' path reported thousands of customers were without electrical power.

In Tonganoxie, Mo., at least 6 inches of rain fell, while Olathe got 2 inches of rain in a 45-minute period, running off quickly into creeks, streams and rivers, KMBC said.
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Phoenix

Ash plumes from Russian volcano prompt Air Canada travel advisory


The Canadian Press
Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:09 UTC
Vancover, B.C. - A remote volcano on Russia's central Kuril Islands is affecting air travel between Vancouver and Asia.

Air Canada has issued an advisory warning that its flights between Vancouver and Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong could be disrupted by volcanic activity at Sarychev Peak.
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Attention

Spain warns of summer jellyfish invasion on Mediterranean beaches

Fiona Govan
Telegraph UK
Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:33 UTC
Portuguese Man-of-War
© Jim Simmen
Portuguese Man-of-War Jellyfish

Holidaymakers are being warned to be vigilant when they take to the water and beware of the stinging menace in the shallows.

For the first time in a decade the potentially deadly Portuguese Man o' War, which are not strictly jellyfish but floating colonies of microscopic hydrozoans, has been spotted close to the beaches of the Costa del Sol.

With tentacles sometimes more than 30 yards long, which are barbed with a sting 10 times stronger than an ordinary jellyfish, it presents a more dangerous threat than the annual jellyfish invasion of Mediterranean beaches.

In extreme cases, the sting can cause heart failure in victims who are allergic to it.

Scientists fear the creatures could spread along the coast of Spain and invade waters around the Balearic Islands after venturing away from its north Atlantic habitat and through the Strait of Gibraltar.
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Bizarro Earth

Typhoons take the pressure off earthquake zones


New Scientist
Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:06 UTC
Image
© NASA
Satellite captures typhoon Jangmi as it heads towards the coast of Taiwan
Can storms prevent nasty earthquakes? That's the suggestion of study showing that typhoons can trigger benign, "slow" quakes that ease the stress between tectonic plates.

Beneath Taiwan, a tectonic plate is diving under its neighbouring plate at one of the world's fastest rates. "You can almost watch them," says study co-author Alan Linde of the Carnegie Institution in Washington DC. Yet the island has had fewer big rumbles than you'd expect from such movement.

One explanation is that Taiwan undergoes slow earthquakes, in which crustal faults slip over hours or days, rather than seconds, creating no seismic judders.
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