Over the past few months there have been noteworthy changes to southern Alberta’s water situation, according to the City of Lethbridge.
Reservoir levels in the area have benefited from a combination of moderately high precipitation and cooler temperatures. As of June 27, levels in the Oldman, St. Mary and Waterton reservoirs are either at or near normal levels. While this is encouraging, hot weather and increased irrigation demands will likely see levels fall in the days and weeks ahead.
The latest forecast for the Oldman River basin shows below average supply. Three of the six snow pillows or snow monitoring stations that supply water to southern Alberta are depleted, meaning snow melt is complete in these areas and no further runoff is expected from them.
Alberta’s latest soil moisture report shows reason for cautious optimism. Most of southern Alberta received moderately high to high precipitation accumulations during the early part of the growing season. While this doesn’t guarantee ideal soil conditions leading up to harvest, it is an encouraging start compared to recent years.
