Natural Vegetation The prairies ‘zone’ or ‘area’ occupies most of the southern part of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The result of the rain shadow’s cast by the cordillera, combined with high summer temperatures, explains the dryness of this zone and its lack of trees. It also explains what grows in this area and why. The Prairies’ rolling landscape and gentle hills are covered by various types of grasses. In the Prairies, the area with the most precipitation is the area that has the taller grasses that will grow in that area. Mid-grass Prairie and Short-grass or mixed Prairie are two of the many different ‘sections’ of the Prairies.

Natural Vegetation - Cont. The Prairies grow: Prairieclover Salvia Oats Wheat Barley Cornflower Tall Grasses Wildflowers The Prairies are known as the Bread Basket of the World. They have been known as this for hundreds of years - reason being that the climate is perfect for growing grains such as Wheat, Barley, and Cornflower. The climate is not to wet, has an average heat temperature, which provides the vegetation with all its necessities.

Climate The climate in this region goes from one extreme to the other. With high temperatures in the summer, and very cold temperatures in the winter The Prairies have light precipitation throughout the year. In the Southern part of Saskatchewan, the average precipitation for the year is less than 300mm whereas Manitoba, the wettest Prairies, have an average of 500mm. Spring rains Dry autumn conditions These conditions have contributed to making the Prairies one of the highest grain-growing areas in the world

The Prairies have ever changing wind and weather patterns, the constant wind erosion, drought, thunderstorms, hailstorms and the unseasonably early autumn frosts which make them a unique part of Canada’s landscape. The Prairie winter can be very cold, but occasionally, there is a “Chinook”. This is a warm, usually very dry wind, that affects much of southern Alberta. The Chinook sweeps down from the Rocky Mountains and it has been known to raise the temperature to as much as 16˚C in a single day - keeping in mind, this is the winter! Map of Canada - Prairie Provinces Climate - Cont.

<- this is an example which shows the Drought Risk Map in the Prairies for the Spring of 2004 This is an example which shows the Prairies Summer Temperature forecast for 2004->

All three of these Climograph’s represent the total rainfall and average temperature for the year in these locations - all Prairie’s. As shown, all three of the charts have rather low precipitation, but have small bouts of more rain than normal - hence the peaks in the charts.