North Saskatchewan River Basin - Water Supply Forecasts

Natural runoff volumes (for the March to September 2002 period) are forecast to be below-average to average in the North Saskatchewan River basin (Table 6a). Current forecasts in the basin range from 78 to 97 % of average. The July 1 forecasts decreased 2 to 11 % compared to last month's forecast due to below-normal precipitation in June. Current forecasted values for the March to September period for the North Saskatchewan River at Edmonton would rank 16th lowest in 84-years of record (1912-95). The July 1 forecasts are 11 to 14 % higher than recorded values observed over the same time period last year.

The first four months of the forecast period have been completed, with the March-June 2002 recorded runoff volumes being the below-average to average, ranging from 81 to 109 % of average. The remaining volume forecast, which is the March to September 2002 forecast minus the recorded volume to date, is available in Table 6b.