APPLYING ESTIMATED TEMPERATURE NORMALS TO THE ZONATION OF THE CANADIAN GREAT PLAINS FOR WHEAT

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Abstract
Regression estimates of temperature normals at nearly 1200 locations based on latitude, longitude and elevation were used, together with photoperiod data, in a biometeorological time scale equation to compute where spring wheat would mature, and the normal minimum air temperature at maturity. The resulting wheat zonation, which seemed reasonably realistic, indicated that an elevation of 1200 m in the southwest corner of Alberta was equivalent to about 160 m near Great Slave Lake. Southern parts of the Great Plains were zoned as favorable for maturing wheat, except in the foothills and some other areas of relatively high elevation, such as the Cypress Hills. North of Edmonton the favorable areas, with estimated normal minimum at wheat maturity of at least 5 °C, were confined to the main valleys, and the area where wheat would theoretically mature extended down the Mackenzie valley to around Wrigley.