With a little bit of heat, the crops should be popping up relatively quickly in Alberta.  Neil Whatley, Crop Specialist with the Ag Info. Center says now that Alberta has seen rain, farmers just need some heat in order to get the weeds growing so the burn-off can continue.  

Whatley says Southern Alberta is more advanced than the rest of the province because it has been warmer throughout April.  "We have good soil moisture now with the rainfall from the last few days, so once the weeds start to grow we can get out and burn-off," he says.

Now that it's May, Whatley says no matter the soil temperature, everyone needs to start seeding. "We really can't wait now, it's time to get going with seeding and when the seeds are planted there should be very good germination and we'll get crops popping up rather quickly, so we definitely need some heat but they'll grow no matter what," he explains. "And we definitely get heat in May, so we're off to a good start."