Wind Trajectories

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

The entire list of 2020 Wind Trajectory Reports is available here.
→ Read the WEEKLY Wind Trajectory Report for Wk10 (released June 22, 2020).

Wind Trajectories

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

The entire list of 2020 Wind Trajectory Reports is available here.
→ Read the WEEKLY Wind Trajectory Report for Wk08 (released June 15, 2020).

Wind Trajectories

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

The entire list of 2020 Wind Trajectory Reports is available here.
→ Read the WEEKLY Wind Trajectory Report for Wk07 (released June 8, 2020).

Wind Trajectories

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

The entire list of 2020 Wind Trajectory Reports is available here.
→ Read the WEEKLY Wind Trajectory Report for Wk06 (released June 1, 2020).

Wind Trajectories

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

The entire list of 2020 Wind Trajectory Reports is available here.
→ Read the WEEKLY Wind Trajectory Report for Wk05 (released May 25, 2020).

Aster leafhopper

This year the Victoria day long weekend came early (May 16-18, 2020), and so did two of our annual, migratory pests. While the PPMN tracks forward and backward trajectories of high air masses originating in the southern part of North America and arriving to points across the Canadian prairies, the provincial ministries of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba coordinate province-wide diamondback moth (DBM) trapping to detect the initial appearance of DBM.  Traps include a pheromone lure used to entice male DBM to a sticky death in order to monitor their arrival across the Canadian prairies.

Early arriving DBM can reproduce on volunteer cruciferous weeds then move to canola as that crop emerges and grows in the spring. This can lead to population increases through the growing season. In some areas of Canada, DBM can produce up to five generations before the winter cold brings an end to their populations.

Recently, AAFC scientists supported by WGRF, have been matching these wind trajectories with the arrivals of DBM and another migratory pest, the aster leafhopper.  The aster leafhopper spreads aster yellows disease, primarily to canola, and can have up to three generations in Canada. AAFC scientists have recently developed a rapid test to determine if an aster leafhopper is infected with aster yellows. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown prevented us from estimating the percentage of infected aster leafhoppers and gaining a better understanding of the risks of aster yellows transmission. Aster leafhoppers and DBM have migrated into Saskatchewan and might also be in Alberta and Manitoba.

Contact Dr. Chrystel Olivier and Dr. Tyler Wist to find out more about the above aster leafhopper  project.

Wind Trajectories

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

The entire list of 2020 Wind Trajectory Reports is available here.
→ Read the WEEKLY Wind Trajectory Report for Wk04 (released May 18, 2020).
→ Read the DAILY Wind Trjectory Reports for Wk04 (released May 20 and May 21).

Wind Trajectories

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

Access the 2020 Wind Trajectory Reports for the first WEEKLY REPORT (11 May 2020).

New - Review the DAILY REPORT (released 15May2020).

Wind Trajectories

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

Find the first WEEKLY report (available 11 May 2020).

Wind Trajectories

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

Data not available this week.

Wind Trajectories (June 24, 2019; Wk 12) Weiss, Trudel, Giffen, Vankosky

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990's.

In a continuing effort to produce timely information, the wind trajectory reports are available in two forms:

• DAILY REPORTS, as they can be generated, are accessible as a downloadable PDF file on this page.
• WEEKLY REPORTS can be retrieved by clicking this hyperlink with the most recent version available here.

Wind Trajectories (June 17, 2019; Wk 11) Weiss, Trudel, Giffen, Vankosky

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

In a continuing effort to produce timely information, the wind trajectory reports are available in two forms:

• DAILY REPORTS, as they can be generated, are accessible as a downloadable PDF file on this page.
• WEEKLY REPORTS can be retrieved by clicking this hyperlink with the most recent version available here.

Wind Trajectories (June 10, 2019; Wk 10) Weiss, Trudel, Giffen, Vankosky

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

In a continuing effort to produce timely information, the wind trajectory reports are available in two forms:

• DAILY REPORTS, as they can be generated, are accessible as a downloadable PDF file on this page.
• WEEKLY REPORTS can be retrieved by clicking this hyperlink with the most recent version available here.

Wind Trajectories (June 3, 2019; Wk 09) Weiss, Trudel, Giffen, Vankosky

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

In a continuing effort to produce timely information, the wind trajectory reports are available in two forms:

• DAILY REPORTS, as they can be generated, are accessible as a downloadable PDF file on this page.
• WEEKLY REPORTS can be retrieved by clicking this hyperlink with the most recent version available here.

Wind Trajectories (May 30, 2019; Wk 08) Weiss, Trudel, Giffen, Vankosky

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

In a continuing effort to produce timely information, the wind trajectory reports are available in two forms:

• DAILY REPORTS, as they can be generated, are accessible as a downloadable PDF file on this page.
• WEEKLY REPORTS can be retrieved by clicking this hyperlink with the most recent version available here.

Wind Trajectories (May 23, 2019; Wk 07) Weiss, Vankosky, Trudel

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

In a continuing effort to produce timely information, the wind trajectory reports are available in two forms:

• DAILY REPORTS, as they can be generated, are accessible as a downloadable PDF file on this page.
• WEEKLY REPORTS can be retrieved by clicking this hyperlink with the most recent version available here.

Wind Trajectories (May 16, 2019; Wk 06) Weiss, Vankosky, Trudel

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

In a continuing effort to produce timely information, the wind trajectory reports are available in two forms:

• DAILY REPORTS, as they can be generated, are accessible as a downloadable PDF file on this page.
• WEEKLY REPORTS can be retrieved by clicking this hyperlink with the most recent version available here.

Wind Trajectories (May 9, 2019; Wk 05) Weiss, Vankosky, Trudel

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s.

In a continuing effort to produce timely information, the wind trajectory reports are available in two forms:

• DAILY REPORTS, as they can be generated, are accessible as a downloadable PDF file on this page.
• WEEKLY REPORTS can be retrieved by clicking this hyperlink with the most recent version available here.

Wind trajectories (May 2, 2019; Wk 04) Weiss, Vankosky, Trudel

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s. Trajectory models are used to deliver an early-warning system for the origin and destination of migratory invasive species, such as diamondback moth.  In addition, plant pathologists have shown that trajectories can assist with the prediction of plant disease infestations and are also beginning to utilize these same data. We receive two types of model output from ECCC: reverse trajectories and forward trajectories.

‘Reverse trajectories’ (RT) refer to air currents that are tracked back in time from specified Canadian locations over a five-day period prior to their arrival date.  Of particular interest are those trajectories that, prior to their arrival in Canada, originated over northwestern and southern USA and Mexico, anywhere diamondback moth populations overwinter and adults are actively migrating.  If diamondback adults are present in the air currents that originate from these southern locations, the moths may be deposited on the Prairies at sites along the trajectory, depending on the local weather conditions at the time that the trajectories pass over our area (e.g. rain showers, etc.). Reverse trajectories are the best available estimate of the ''true'' 3D wind fields at a specific point. They are based on observations, satellite and radiosonde data.

‘Forward trajectories’ (FT) have a similar purpose; however, the modelling process begins at sites in USA & Mexico. The model output predicts the pathway of a trajectory. Again, of interest to us are the winds that eventually end up passing over the Prairies.

Ross Weiss (AAFC), Meghan Vankosky (AAFC) and Serge Trudel (ECCC)


DATE: APRIL 30, 2019

1. Reverse trajectories (RT)
a.  Pacific Northwest (PNW) – For the period of April 24-30 there have been 18 RTs (originating over ID, OR and WA) that have crossed over prairie locations.  By comparison, for the period of April  17-23 there were 51 RT’s. The majority PNW RTs have been reported to pass over southern AB.  Since March 23rd  Lethbridge AB has reported the highest number of PNW RTs (n=22), Beiseker AB  (n=15) and Olds AB (n=31).

Figure 1.  Daily total number of reverse trajectories (RTs) originating over Idaho, Oregon, and
Washington that have crossed the Canadian prairies as of April 30, 2019.

Figure 2.  Total number of dates with PNW reverse trajectories originating over Idaho, Oregon, and
Washington that have crossed the Canadian prairies (since March 23, 2019).

Figure 3.  List of PNW (Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) reverse trajectories that
have crossed the prairies (since March 23, 2019).

b.  Mexico and SW USA (TX, CA) – No trajectories, originating over Mexico or southwest USA have crossed the prairies for the period of April 24-30, 2019. Since March 23, 2019 there have been 5 reverse trajectories that originated over Mexico, CA and TX. All five occurred on April 7.

c.  Texas and Oklahoma – No trajectories, originating over TX or OK have crossed the prairies for the period of April 24-30, 2019.  Since March 23, 2019 there have been 18 reverse trajectories that have originated over OK and TX. Most of these trajectories have crossed eastern SK and MB.

2.  Forward trajectories (FT) – 
The following table reports the origin of forward trajectories predicted to cross the prairies over the next five days (Note: ‘InitialDate’ refers to when the forward trajectory crossed the source location. Trajectories are predicted to cross prairie locations within five days of the initial date).  

In a continuing effort to produce timely information, wind trajectory reports will be available both DAILY and WEEKLY:

• DAILY REPORTS, as they can be generated, will be put up as a downloadable PDF file on this page.
• WEEKLY REPORTS can be retrieved by clicking this hyperlink.

Weather forecasts (7 day):

Winnipeg: https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/mb-38_metric_e.html
Brandon: https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/mb-52_metric_e.html
Saskatoon: https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/sk-40_metric_e.html
Regina: https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/sk-32_metric_e.html
Edmonton: https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/ab-50_metric_e.html
Lethbridge: https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/ab-30_metric_e.html
Grande Prairie: https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/ab-31_metric_e.html 

Wind Trajectories (Apr 26, 2019; Wk 3) Weiss, Vankosky, Trudel

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) have been working together to study the potential of trajectories for monitoring insect movements since the late 1990s. Trajectory models are used to deliver an early-warning system for the origin and destination of migratory invasive species, such as diamondback moth.  In addition, plant pathologists have shown that trajectories can assist with the prediction of plant disease infestations and are also beginning to utilize these same data. We receive two types of model output from ECCC: reverse trajectories and forward trajectories.

‘Reverse trajectories’ (RT) refer to air currents that are tracked back in time from specified Canadian locations over a five-day period prior to their arrival date.  Of particular interest are those trajectories that, prior to their arrival in Canada, originated over northwestern and southern USA and Mexico, anywhere diamondback moth populations overwinter and adults are actively migrating.  If diamondback adults are present in the air currents that originate from these southern locations, the moths may be deposited on the Prairies at sites along the trajectory, depending on the local weather conditions at the time that the trajectories pass over our area (e.g. rain showers, etc.). Reverse trajectories are the best available estimate of the ''true'' 3D wind fields at a specific point. They are based on observations, satellite and radiosonde data.

‘Forward trajectories’ (FT) have a similar purpose; however, the modelling process begins at sites in USA & Mexico. The model output predicts the pathway of a trajectory. Again, of interest to us are the winds that eventually end up passing over the Prairies.

Ross Weiss (AAFC), Meghan Vankosky (AAFC) and Serge Trudel (ECCC)


DATE: APRIL 24, 2019

Reverse trajectories (RT)
a. Pacific Northwest (PNW) – For the period of April 17-23, 2019, there have been 55 RT’s (originating over ID, OR and WA) that have crossed over prairie locations (Figs. 1 and 2).  By comparison, for the period of April  10-16, 2019, there were 31 RT’s. The majority PNW RT’s have been reported to pass over southern AB.  Since March 23rd, Lethbridge AB has reported the highest number of PNW RT’s (n=20), Beiseker AB  (n=15) and Gainsborough SK (n=11).

Figure 1.  Daily total number of reverse trajectories originating over ID, OR, and WA that have crossed the prairies.

Figure 2. Total number of dates with PNW reverse trajectories originating over ID, OR, and WA that have crossed the prairies (since March 23, 2019).

b. Mexico and SW USA (TX, CA) – No trajectories, originating over Mexico or southwest USA have crossed the prairies for the period of April 17-23, 2019. Since March 23, 2019 there have been 5 reverse trajectories that originated over Mexico, CA and TX. All five occurred on April 7, 2019.

c. Texas and Oklahoma – No trajectories, originating over TX or OK have crossed the prairies for the period of April 17-23, 2019.  Since March 23, 2019 there have been 18 reverse trajectories that have originated over OK and TX (Fig. 3). Most of these trajectories have crossed eastern SK and MB.

Figure 3.  Total number of dates with reverse trajectories originating over OK and TX that have crossed the prairies (since March 23, 2019).

d. Nebraska and Kansas - No trajectories, originating over KS or NE have crossed the prairies for the period of April 17-23, 2019.  Since March 23, 2019 there have been 18 reverse trajectories that have originated over KS and NE (Fig. 4).

Figure 4. Total number of dates with reverse trajectories originating over KS and NE that have crossed the prairies (since March 23, 2019).

In a continuing effort to produce timely information, wind trajectory reports will be available both DAILY and WEEKLY:

• DAILY REPORTS, as they can be generated, will be put up as a downloadable PDF file on this page.
• WEEKLY REPORTS can be retrieved by clicking this hyperlink.