Drought Watch
Historical Perspective of Droughts on the Canadian Prairies
This historical perspective of droughts provides a relative comparison of the spatial extent and severity of the major agricultural droughts since the 1930s. The analysis was limited to the growing season (April to August unless otherwise stated). For each drought year, the total seasonal precipitation was expressed as a percentage of the long-term total for 1961-1990.
Among the major drought years identified, 1961 stands out as the worst year in terms of the areal extent and severity. All the other years appear to be within the range of the climatic variability. Each of the drought years has unique characteristics including the location of the centre of drought activity, whether the previous year was dry or not and what activities were most vulnerable. Because of these realities, the comparison of drought between years using threshold values as shown here may not provide a comprehensive picture.
Historical Drought Maps
Map will appear in seperate window.