Top soil moisture in southwest Saskatchewan has taken a big hit due to the summer's weather, and World Weather Meteorologist Andrew Owen said a reversal of fortune doesn't appear imminent.

"It is not looking great," Owen said. "Obviously it's good for those harvesting and trying to get in the fields. But top soil moisture is very dry and has been for quite some time this summer actually. I think most of the region is classified as drought, and honestly it's not looking like there will be any major changes in the near future."

Owen said temperatures often reaching several degrees higher than average - hitting well into the 30s frequently - combined with dry weather and high wind speed "has just drained all the moisture out of the top soil."

Owen said there's an increased chance for rain coming up, but it doesn't look like it'll be nearly enough to fix top soil moisture before winter.

"Later this month, toward the end of the month and into October, we should be seeing a little bit greater changes for rain. Most of it's not going to be nearly enough to fix the top soil moisture before we go into winter. I think the real concern will be whether we get enough snow over the winter to fix the top soil moisture before we get into next spring. But right now with how dry the top soil is, it's going to be really hard to completely fix the moisture deficits before winter starts."

Last summer's immense amount of precipitation helped this year's crops, but with that used up, there's a desparate need for a lot more mositure before the next crop starts up.

There is some precipitation in the near forecast, but Owen said it probably won't make much of a difference.

"Right now there is a chance for a little bit of rain in the next couple days, and with temperatures a little bit cooler for the first part of the weekend, so that will help slow drying rain and maybe even put a little bit of moisture in the top soil," he said. "But later in the weekend and early next week, when the dry and warmer weather returns, most of that is just going to be gradually lost to evaporation. Any rain that occurs in the next few days isn't really going to last more than a week or so."

Owen said it's too early to tell what kind of winter is ahead, though plenty of snow would be good news for farming in southwest Saskatchewan.