Drought – Current conditions

As of February 18, there are 40 water shortage advisories in place for select water management areas across Alberta.

• Alberta Rivers - advisories

Based on accumulated precipitation data, observed monthly flows, and 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. A season in review report will be published in November.

• Water supply outlook (February 2026)
• The Water supply outlook is available at Alberta River Basins.

The Water Supply Outlook is a long-term river volume forecast for the period from March through September.

The forecasted river volumes for the March-to-September period are estimated to be above to well above those observed last year, except the Elbow River forecast which is below last year’s values.

Highlights of the Water Supply Outlook are below for the March-to-September period:

• North Saskatchewan River basin – above normal forecasted
• Red Deer River basin – above normal forecasted
• Bow River basin – normal to above normal forecasted
• Oldman River basin – normal to above normal forecasted
• Milk River basin – normal forecasted

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.

• 29 mountain snowpack sites were surveyed around the beginning of February. Of the 20 sites that have more than 20 years of historical records, 16 had snowpack conditions that were above normal or much above normal.

Winter precipitation thus far (November through January) is above normal across northern Alberta and along the length of the Rocky Mountains, with southern and central regions seeing winter precipitation totals that vary from below normal to above normal.

Accumulated precipitation and % of normal maps are available on the Alberta River Basins web application and the Alberta Rivers app: previous month, winter, fall and summer seasonal amounts and the complete water year.

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.

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.

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

• Soil moisture report