{"id":792172,"date":"2026-07-10T05:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T05:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/792172\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T05:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T05:42:10","slug":"prairie-canola-in-flower-bracing-for-weekend-heat-wave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/792172\/","title":{"rendered":"Prairie canola in flower bracing for weekend heat wave"},"content":{"rendered":"

SASKATOON \u2014 Canola growers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba may have some anxious moments this weekend.<\/p>\n

Environment Canada issued a special weather statement <\/a>on July 8 for the two provinces warning about a \u201clong duration heat event\u201d beginning Friday afternoon and lasting well into next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing of this could be pretty unfortunate,\u201d said Ian Epp, an agronomist with SaskOilseeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the crop is just getting into that flowering window.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canola is a cool-weather crop that starts to experience yield loss when temperatures reach 28 C.<\/p>\n

Environment Canada is forecasting temperatures will reach 30 C on July 10, climbing to the mid-30s by July 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cConditions will be particularly muggy this weekend, especially in regions along and south of the Trans-Canada Highway, with humidex values approaching 45 on Sunday,\u201d the forecaster said in its statement.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/p>\n

Environment Canada is forecasting a heat wave for much of Saskatchewan and Manitoba this weekend, which could hurt canola yields. The affected region (in grey) is anything south of a line from Meadow Lake, Sask., to the top of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba.
\n Photo:
\n Environment Canada<\/p>\n

The affected region includes most of the grain growing regions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, anything south of a line running from Meadow Lake, Sask., across to the top of Lake Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

Read Also<\/p>\n


\n \"\"
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

It will be particularly hot in southwestern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba.<\/p>\n

WHY IT MATTERS: Delayed seeding means much of the crop will be flowering at the time of the high temperatures.<\/p>\n

The original forecast called for temperatures to remain in the high 20s to low 30s C next week.<\/p>\n

However, the latest forecast calls for a cooling off to more normal temperatures in the mid- to high-20s next week.<\/p>\n

Epp said that is a big difference because crops can probably withstand temperatures in the high 20s, but if the mercury remains in the 30s, that would be problematic.<\/p>\n

Adequate to surplus soil moisture levels will help minimize any potential yield loss this year.<\/p>\n

It is not like 2021 when high July temperatures combined with dry conditions to slash yields, said Epp.<\/p>\n

But it is still not ideal timing for a heat wave.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely not a good thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The extent of the damage will also depend on nighttime temperatures. Plants can recover from extreme daytime heat if nighttime temperatures are 16 C or cooler.<\/p>\n

Environment Canada meteorologist Terri Lang said overnight lows on July 12 are expected to be 18 C in Saskatoon and 19 C in Moose Jaw.<\/p>\n

Extreme humidity will keep the temperatures high.<\/p>\n

Epp does not know of any scientific data on what impact high humidex values have on canola yields.<\/p>\n

But the muggy conditions could result in disease development in the crop canopy. He encouraged growers to stay on top of their sclerotinia risk assessment programs.<\/p>\n

He also encouraged growers to be vigilant about scouting for cabbage seedpod weevil.<\/a> He has been receiving calls from all over the province about that insect, including areas that don\u2019t traditionally see it.<\/p>\n

But when it comes to the looming heatwave, there is nothing growers can do but wait and see what happens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SASKATOON \u2014 Canola growers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba may have some anxious moments this weekend. Environment Canada issued…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,10748,295,219189,279592,904,24373,66,279593,3610],"class_list":["post-792172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canola","tag-environment","tag-environment-and-climate-change-canada","tag-heat-stress","tag-manitoba","tag-saskatchewan","tag-science","tag-soil-moisture","tag-temperature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}