Water Supply Outlook for Alberta
February 2007
January 2007 Precipitation
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Precipitation in most mountain areas were below normal to normal, while in the remainder of the
province it was generally much below normal (Figure 1).
Exceptions include: normal precipitation at Peace River, Lloydminister and Whitecourt, and
above to much above normal precipitation at Cold Lake, High River, the Cypress Hills, and the western
end of Lesser Slave Lake. January precipitation totals are illustrated in
Figure 2.
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Winter Precipitation (November 1, 2006 to January 31, 2007)
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Above to much above normal precipitation has been recorded in mountain areas south of Banff, at Whitecourt, in the Cypress Hills,
and the Cold Lake-Lloydminister area. The remainder of the province generally recorded below to much below normal precipitation
(Figure 3).
Normal to above normal precipitation was recorded in the Edmonton-Drayton Valley and Jasper-Edson-Peace River regions.
Winter precipitation totals are illustrated in
(Figure 4).
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Fall Precipitation (September 1 to October 31, 2006)
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Much below to below normal precipitation was recorded in most of the northern one-third of the province, the
Medicine Hat-Brooks-Lethbridge area, Drumheller and in most mountain and foothill regions.
Generally above to much above normal precipitation was recorded in the plains and some foothills areas of
Central Alberta, and in the Cypress Hills
(Figure 5).
Fall precipitation totals are illustrated in
Figure 6.
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Long-Lead Precipitation Outlook
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Environment Canada's long-lead forecast for Alberta issued on February 1, 2007
for the February through April 2007 period is for generally below normal precipitation throughout Alberta.
Temperatures are expected to be below normal for the southern half of the province and normal
for the northern half, except for the northwestern corner where above normal temperatures are forecast.
Environment Canada's long-lead precipitation outlook is available from their website located at:
http://weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/saisons/index_e.html.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) long-lead forecasts issued on
January 18, 2007 for February through to the end of April 2007 is for above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation for
southern Alberta.
The NOAA reported January 11, 2007 that El Niño conditions are likely to continue from March through May 2007. NOAA's long-lead precipitation outlook is available from their website located at:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/90day/.
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For technical enquires about
this web page please contact
Alberta Environment - Environmental Management
Water Management Operations Branch at
AENV-WebWS@gov.ab.ca
