Some areas in Saskatchewan have seen “deplorable” weather for agriculture, World Weather Inc. senior agricultural meteorologist Drew Lerner says.

Hardest hit are the areas near the U.S. border and a corridor from Saskatoon to Val Marie. The Watrous, Wynyard and Stewart Valley areas have also been dry.

“All these areas were dealing with drought last year to some degree. We saw improvement for a little while earlier this year and then conditions have been deteriorating here more recently and on an accelerated basis.”

Less than normal precipitation on top of already dry soil conditions “was pretty much a death sentence for some of those areas out there,” he said.

Central and Northern Saskatchewan are faring better, with some northern pockets even seeing bouts of too much rain, Lerner said.

Crops will have to endure another month of hot, dry summer weather before the arrival of fall in September shakes up the atmosphere.

September and October will be crucial months for rainfall to replenish soil moisture before a likely warm, dry winter caused by an El Nino system, Lerner said.

“If we miss this opportunity, it puts us in a position to come into spring 2019 with the same draught still in place.”