Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency is already warning of the potential for flooding next spring.
Most of the province is saturated heading into winter freeze-up, and even near normal snow pack could result in above normal runoff, the agency said in a fall report released Nov. 20.
Many areas are actually wetter than they were in the fall of 2010 after receiving up to 200 percent of normal precipitation earlier this year.
“While much of the province has experienced near normal precipitation over the past two months, which has lowered topsoil moisture conditions, much of the subsoil across the grain belt is thought to remain near fully charged,” said the report. “This will reduce infiltration capacities in the spring of 2015.”
All areas are wetter than normal except an area north of Lloydminster and another from Hudson Bay to Nipawin.
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The report said forecasts are pointing to a near normal snow pack this winter.
“While it is much too early to say with any certainty that flooding will occur in 2015, much of the grain belt, particularly along the eastern side of the province and in the southwest, are at a heightened risk,” the agency said.
Spring reports will be issued beginning in February.
