Calgary monitoring river levels amid below-average mountain snowpack levels
The City of Calgary is keeping a close eye on water levels for several reasons this spring, including hot, dry weather and below-average mountain snowpack levels.
"We've seen a 30 per cent increase in demand above normal for this time of year," said Nicole Newton with the City of Calgary.
"We have started to increase the levels of the reservoir in anticipation to manage our water supply that will get us through the wintertime."
John Pomeroy is the Canada research chair in water resources and climate change at the University of Saskatchewan.
He says the snowpack also started melting earlier than he's ever seen.
"About six weeks early," he said.
Even along the continental divide, where winter snows historically lingered until July most years, there is very little, if any, snow left.
It means rivers such as the Bow and the Elbow will get the majority of their volume from groundwater and any rain that falls.
The Bow River generally hits peak runoff in mid-June, but this year it peaked about three weeks ago – something seen across most of the province.
"Their flow has dropped in half for the last 10 days, and it's now in some of the lowest flows ever measured this time of year," Pomeroy said.
Glaciers and lingering snow act as drought insurance for the Prairie provinces, ensuring a volume of cool water continues to flow, even if rain doesn't fall. However, glaciers have been retreating for roughly a century, and melting has accelerated rapidly over the past 30 years.
"In fact, very disturbingly, last month we published a paper showing predictions for the Bow and Elbow rivers for the end of the century under climate change if we don't do anything about climate change," Pomeroy said.
"It's kind of a worst case scenario, and what we've showed for the end of century years looks a lot like this year."
Even since it began to melt away, the Athabasca Glacier one of six outlet glaciers coming off the Columbia Icefield – often held snow on its surface until into July.Now its bottom three kilometres are all snow-free and a massive volume of ice has already melted away.
Already this year, 1.7 metres of ice has melted off the top of the Athabasca – the total volume lost is roughly the equivalent of 1,122 Olympic sized swimming pools.
"We may have crossed a tipping point for glaciers like the Athabasca," said Pomeroy. "We're almost certainly in for record glacier melt this year - even higher than previous years."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.