Drought – Current conditions

As of August 7, there are 32 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 (August 2025)
• 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 August-to-September period are estimated to be similar to slightly below those observed last year, except the Oldman River forecasts which are higher than last year.

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

• Milk River basin – Much below average forecasted
• Oldman River basin – Average to much below average forecasted
• Bow River basin – Above average to much below average forecasted
• Red Deer River basin – Below average forecasted
• North Saskatchewan River basin – Much above 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.

• At the beginning of June, 21 mountain snow surveys were completed: 12 were much below average; 4 were below average and 1 was average. The four sites with zero snow were not assessed relative to historical averages.

Summer precipitation thus far (May through July) is normal to above normal in southern Alberta and pockets of the north, but below normal to well below normal in an area from Grande Prairie to Cold Lake.

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