By this time last year, we had received almost twice as much snow as we've seen this year. 

Scott Kehler is a meteorologist with Weatherlogics. He notes “Up until this point so far this year, we have only had 85 centimetres of snow versus last year's 154 up until this point. While those numbers were taken in Winnipeg, the numbers in the Southeast are pretty similar. A big decline compared to the 2021, 2022 season,” 

In addition, Kehler says 85 centimetres is also below average for this time of year, adding “normal at this point would be 125 centimetres so not only are we well below last year, we are also a bit below normal.” 

Kehler notes this might not be a bad thing. 

“I think given the weather that we had last year, what we have seen this winter is quite a comfortable amount of snow. You want to have some moisture going into the spring but for farmers that went through the flooding of last year, I think that they would prefer to have an easier start to the spring and then get some more moisture once the crop is in the ground.” 

That said, snowfall is just one factor. Kehler says everything that happens after the snow melts is crucial as well.  

“If we see a lot of rain in April and May, that could be bad news because the soil doesn't have the capacity to hold moisture like last spring and, of course, even with that capacity, we had so much rain that it flooded anyway. If we see a pretty normal spring rain wise, with a normal snow melt, I think farmers will be in really good shape.” 

Kehler adds at this point in time signs are positive for spring, but it is still early and they are keeping a close eye on weather indicators as the picture for spring comes into focus.