Drought – Current conditions

As of April 11, there are 33 water shortage advisories in place for select water management areas across Alberta.

• Alberta Rivers - advisories

Based on monthly snowpack survey data (collected between February and June each year), Alberta produces a water supply outlook that estimates the total runoff volume for 20 locations in southern and central Alberta. The water supply outlook is typically published during the second week of each month between January and August.

• Water supply outlook (April 2025)

The April water supply outlook is a long-term river volume forecast for the period from April through September.

Based on April data, the forecasted river volumes for the April-to-September period are similar to slightly below those observed last year.

Highlights of the April water supply outlook are below:

• Milk River basin – The forecasts for the April-to-September period are much below average.
• Oldman River basin – The forecasts for the April-to-September period are much below average.
• Bow River basin – The forecasts for the April-to-September period are much below average to below average.
• Red Deer River basin – The forecasts for the April-to-September period are below average.
• North Saskatchewan River basin – The forecasts for the April-to-September period are much below average to below average.

Alberta conducts mountain snowpack surveys monthly from February 1 to June 1. The data is published monthly in the water supply outlook.

In addition to the monthly snowpack surveys, the Alberta River Basins web application and the Alberta Rivers app provides automated snow pillow data from 18 sites, mostly in the mountains and foothills.

February mountain snowpack survey results

The 26 snow surveys completed in April showed snowpack conditions that ranged from above average to much below average for this time of year. While snowpack conditions in the eastern slopes are below historical norms, the seasonal precipitation (November to April) was normal to above normal in eastern and central Alberta.

• Oldman snow surveys – All 6 locations surveyed were below the normal range. On average, the 6 sites were 26 mm lower than last year at this time.
• Bow snow surveys – 13 of the 14 locations surveyed were below the normal range. On average, the 14 sites were 47 mm lower than last year.
• Red Deer snow surveys – The one site surveyed was 88% of average and 55 mm less than last year.
• North Saskatchewan snow surveys – Surveys ranged from much below the normal range to within the normal range.
• Athabasca River basin snow surveys – Surveys ranged from much below average to average. On average, the sites were 23 mm higher than last year. Hinton was the second highest on record out of 51 years.

Alberta’s river monitoring network includes over 450 gauges that report near real-time data via the Alberta River Basins web application and the Alberta Rivers app during the open water season.

Periodic updates on flow data for major rivers in Alberta will resume in this section in April.

Water storage volumes in the major irrigation and hydroelectric reservoirs of the Milk, Oldman, Bow, Red Deer, North Saskatchewan, and Athabasca River basins are updated each weekday and available in the Provincial Reservoir Storage Summary.

Periodic updates on water levels in select reservoirs in southern Alberta will resume in this section in April.

Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation produces a soil moisture report periodically during the winter months, with frequency increasing during the growing season.

• Soil moisture report (March 20, 2025)