Water Supply Outlook for Alberta
April 2008
Plains Snowpack
Sixty-seven snow course measurements were taken in many plains areas of Alberta at the end of
March (Figure 1).
Above to much above average snowpack conditions were observed in a band across the
province from Cold Lake to the Morinville-Athabasca area, to Lesser Slave Lake, the Peace River area,
and extending northward to the High Level area. Fifteen of twenty-three stations within the
described band recorded snow water equivalents that placed within the top 10 highest
accumulation years in 35 yeas of record.
Although no snow courses were measured this month in the Cypress Hills, remote meteorological
instrumentation and regional field staff reports' indicated that there was still above average snow depth
in the Cypress Hills as of April 1.
Average snowpack was recorded in the St. Paul-Lloydminister-Edmonton area, and most of the
Fort Chipewyan measurement area.
Average to below average snowpack conditions were measured within a band beginning just
west of Edmonton and extending to Edson and Grande Prairie areas. However, little or no snow
was observed at two snow survey stations in the Grande Prairie vicinty.
Little or no snow was observed at snow survey stations
south of a straightline between the headwaters of the Pembina River to the Battle River at the
Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary except for a small area northwest of Sundre, where snowpack was
below average to average. Previous years data for these stations show this is not uncommon
as little or no snow remains at this time of year for approximately 25 to 50% of the sampled years.
In other forested areas of Alberta, satellite estimation of snow water water equivalent
for the plains snowpack as of April 1, 2008 indicates the snowpack is generally
average to above average in the Wabasca River basin and areas north of High Level, with lesser amounts
in the Fort McMurray area and the Upper Hay and Chincaga River basins (Figure 2).
Weekly updates to the satellite map are available on the
Meteorological Survey of Canada website .
For technical enquires about
this web page please contact
Alberta Environment - Environmental Management
Water Management Operations Branch at
AENV-WebWS@gov.ab.ca
