Dry winter in Alberta

 Winter in Alberta, especially in this area of the province, typically involves hearing snowmobiles from morning to night and seeing them zip along in the ditches or along groomed trails. These days, those areas are more brown than white, showing only remnants of the trails that once were, albeit temporarily. Rallies have been cancelled from Whitecourt to Swan Hills to Smoky Lake to Athabasca to Cochrane, with others holding out hope, praying for snow to fall. Low snow has been a disaster for winter enthusiasts, but the worst might be yet to come. Concerns continue to be raised by farmers and residents alike as precipitation levels remain low across the province. In southern Alberta, drought conditions and the fears of a low spring runoff have farmers worried, and rightfully so. According to the Canadian Drought Monitor, large swaths of the province sit under “severe drought” to “extreme drought” as of late January. The extreme level is considered a 1 in 20-year event. Whitecourt was coloured in bright yellow, which stands for “abnormally dry.”