Cypress runoff higher, flooding possible
By Medicine Hat News on April 9, 2020.
Runoff from the prairie snowpack and the Cypress Hills will be 50 to 100 per cent higher than a typical year, Alberta Environment states in its recent monthly outlook. The Alberta plains runoff estimates show levels well above normal for almost all of Southeast Alberta, as of mid-March. On Tuesday in Montana, the National Weather Service reported that streams in Hill County, surrounding Havre, were rising rapidly and could top some banks as water flowed southward from farmland in Southeast Alberta. Minor flooding in low-laying areas was predicted. In Alberta, runoff on the plains could present near normal-year conditions in central Southern Alberta and below normal in areas near and north of the Red Deer River along the Saskatchewan boundary, according to Alberta Environment officials. The separate mountain snowpack figures show an expectation of river levels ranging from average to well-above average in the Bow and Oldman River basins in the March to September periods, with normal conditions on the Milk River. 6-5
