Drought – Current conditions

As of March 12, 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 (March 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 March Water Supply Outlook forecasts river volumes that are generally expected to be greater than those seen in 2025 and, in some cases, well above last year’s volumes. We are forecasting normal to above normal river volumes for the Oldman, Bow, Red Deer and North Saskatchewan River basins, and normal to below normal river volumes for the Milk River basin.

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.

• 32 mountain snowpack sites were surveyed around the beginning of March. Of the 31 mountain snowpack sites that have more than 20 years of historical records, 21 had snowpack conditions that were above normal or much above normal.

Winter precipitation thus far (November through February) ranges from slightly below normal to much above normal. Relative to normal precipitation levels, the area east of Lesser Slave Lake has received the most winter precipitation while the area around Claresholm has received the least.

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