By Charles Lefebvre

South Saskatchewan River not currently at risk of flooding

Jun 10, 2019 | 5:18 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Despite the precipitation the region received this weekend, the South Saskatchewan River is not currently at risk of flooding.

Alberta Environment and Parks says they have seen a lot of melt from the snow pack in the mountains in June.

“The snow pack I would say right now is below average to average in the mountains that would affect the South Saskatchewan River and Medicine Hat,” said Colleen Walford, a river forecaster with the Alberta government.

Walford says the precipitation in the region this weekend also had little impact on river levels. She says the government is keeping an eye on the current forecasts.

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“I think it’s going to be a question of whether we get those big cold lows,” she said. “The one we had this past weekend was fairly deep, in terms of how big of a system it was, it just didn’t have the amount of moisture, and it didn’t stick around for very long.”

Walford adds, “We got some good precipitation that will help sustain flows for the next couple of weeks, which is important when we’re looking a little water short in some of those rivers, but again, it’s going to come down to the next system that we’re going to get, and it isn’t in the short to mid-range forecast right now.”

As for river flow, Walford says the South Saskatchewan River is slower than average this year.

“The normal, in terms of flow, is around 260 metres cubed per second,” she said. “We’re at approximately 210 right now (2 p.m.) and it might go down to approximately 160 by the end of the week,” she said.

As of 4:45 p.m. on Monday, the river flow was at 203.27 cubic metres per second.