With the lack of snow we've seen in the south east corner of the province, farmers in the area are starting to feel the concern of the of a lack of moisture in the area as more of a reality.

"That's a concern that I think everybody has right now, I mean this time last year we had a lot of snow and had good moisture reserves and last fall end up pretty dry," says Kory Pick, who's farm lies between Weyburn and Estevan. "...so we're still hoping we might see some snow yet or some late spring rain."

According to Environment Canada, the entire month of January only garnered a single day with snow which dropped about 4.2 cm of the fluffy white stuff, well below the average for that month thanks to colder than normal temperature. Now, things have been warming up in the last week in the southeast, and we could see road bans are going coming into affect sooner than expected for those hauling grain along the gravel roads. With heavy trucks loaded up with grain or fertilizer, they tend to make a mess of the dirt roads around the area.

"They're still holding together pretty good so far, I mean if it continues like this then a guy's got to start being a little more fussy with hauling and time of day and stuff like that. But so far so good."

Luckily for most farmers in the southeast, many of them are going to be avoiding hauling grain over the beat up roads thanks to a fair amount of cooperative weather in hauling grain so far this winter.

"I've only got three of four loads left on a contract to haul and then after that actually all of our durum is moved."

"I know some guys are still in the process and some are still looking at prices in the future for when they can make their best deal, too."

Despite the cold and dry winter, many meteorologists are looking towards a fairly wet spring to make up for the winter crops coming in the summer, but as with every year, farmers hold little hope for more rain and prepare for a dry year ahead.

"Long range forecasts get less accurate the further out they go, but one can always hope."