Abnormal dryness or drought was continuing to impact more than half of the agricultural lands in Ontario and Quebec as of the end of January.
According to the latest update of the Canadian drought monitor, 55% of the agricultural landscape within the central region – which includes both Ontario and Quebec – was being impacted by abnormal dryness or drought as of the end of January. That is little changed from 58% at the end of December, but well down from 87% in November.
As shown on the map below, abnormally dry conditions continue to encompass much of Southern Ontario, extending all the way from Windsor to the Ontario-Quebec border and beyond. The worst of the dryness is along the north shore of Lake Erie where a band of moderate drought runs from one end of the lake to the other. Moderate drought is also impacting the Niagara peninsula and areas westward from about Goderich on the eastern shore of Lake Huron.
January 2025 was marked by abnormally low precipitation across much of the country, particularly in southern Ontario, southern Quebec, British Columbia, and the eastern Prairies. Most of southern Ontario and southern Quebec saw only about 40-60% of normal amounts during the month, with large pockets getting less than 40%.
The 2025 planting season is still months away, but southern Ontario has so far been slow to recover from last fall’s spate of near bone-dry weather.
Heavy snow, with the possibility of rain and freezing rain in some locations, is forecast for much of southern Ontario later today and into Thursday morning.
