Calgary rainfall eases drought concerns

While the precipitation will help alleviate short-term drought issues in southern Alberta, the region will need more precipitation to maintain adequate moisture levels throughout the summer.

Brian Proctor, a meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, said the recent rainfall in Calgary shows that moisture levels are moving in the right direction.

“It's not necessarily going to solve every problem, but it's going to help address some of the short-term concerns,” Proctor said in an interview Wednesday.

According to the weather station at the airport, Calgary saw measurable precipitation on 16 of the 22 days in May.

“It's surprising given how dry it was earlier in the year,” he said.

With moderate to extreme drought conditions in the forecast for southern Alberta, Proctor said precipitation will help keep those levels down a bit right now — but more moisture will be needed to get the province through the summer.

“Maybe we'll improve it one category, but we're still looking for significant drought potential in the landscape,” he said.

“We're addressing short-term concerns, but long-term we need a lot more moisture than we've seen to really alleviate long-term concerns.”

Despite the drought conditions, flooding is still a threat for southern Alberta during the late spring and early summer.

“May 15 to July 15 is when we get really heavy rain, so the city is on high alert this season,” said Sandy Davis, river engineering supervisor for the City of Calgary.

Calgary said the city is constantly monitoring the weather and river levels as rainfall increases as we enter flood season.

“Flooding in Calgary is caused by precipitation in the mountains and foothills,” Davis said.

“We're going to see the snowpack start to melt by May, which tells us a lot about the water supply throughout the summer, which will start to raise river levels in the spring, but snowmelt alone doesn't cause river flooding, so what do we do?” We're looking at really big rain systems and they can be difficult to predict.”

Snowpack in the Rockies is starting to provide a delayed release of moisture, but Proctor said more is still needed. Banff, Alta., saw nine days of rain in May.

“As we move into the warmer, drier part of our year that goes away in May and June, we need more moisture toward summer,” Proctor said.

Proctor predicts that summer temperatures will be “normal” in southern Alberta as El Nino's influence diminishes.