SOUTHERN MANITOBA 
Weather and Water Conditions 
The breakup in 1959 was abnormally early, following an 
unusually cold and open winter. 
Most of the snowfall occurred in mid-November, contrib- 
uting heavy precipitation in the eastern portion of the area, but 
much less in the west. Another snowfall in February and light 
rains in early May did little to reverse the drying trend in the 
western portion of the area. Relatively heavy rains on May 26 
contributed considerable runoff over the entire area and further 
rains the following two days contributed to surface water in the 
southern portions. Although the drying trend has continued in 
the western portion of the area including the whole of stratum 
"A" (Table 1), there was still abundant water in stratum "B," 
Although the number of water areas in stratum "A" was 
lower than any previous year shown and levels have been falling 
steadily, there is still considerable carryover of water in the 
larger potholes. In the major portion of stratum "A," these 
larger areas are now about the same level they were in 1954. 
The loss has been in the small temporaries. While the loss of 
water may have an influence on the nesting population, it is not 
anticipated that there will be a shortage of water for broods in 
any of the area covered. 
The most conspicuous aspect of the habitat is the 
scarcity of emergent vegetation. There has still been no 
recovery since emergent cover was flooded out by the rising 
waters of 1955 and 1956. Thus over-water nesting cover is 
greatly reduced and the remaining is of generally poor quality. 
The weather was warm in April and cool in May, but 
Without severe blizzards or hard freezes, although several below 
freezing readings were recorded. However, very severe dust 
storms were experienced May 11 and le. This did extensive damage 
to farmlands and necessitated reseeding of early crops in many 
cases. 
Burning of pothole margins and brushland was again 
prevalent, though not as severe as in 1958. 
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