Drought – Current conditions

As of June 16, there are 12 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 (June 2026)
• The Water supply outlook is available at Alberta River Basins.

We are forecasting river volumes through September that are above normal or well above normal for the North Saskatchewan and Bow River basins, and most parts of the Oldman River basin. Conditions are expected to be close to normal for Red Deer River basin but the Milk River basin is expected to see river volumes that are well below normal through September.

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.

• Twenty mountain snowpack sites were surveyed around the beginning of June. Ten had snowpack conditions that were above normal or much above normal. Three sites, all in the Bow River basin, had the highest on record. Conversely, one site surveyed in the Oldman and Bow river basins were each in the bottom 5 on record.

May precipitation was marked by a strong contrast between above normal amounts across much of the eastern and northern portions of the province and well below normal amounts for areas near Grande Prairie, Whitecourt and central Alberta.

Accumulated precipitation and percent 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