As winter is approaching and temperatures begin to get colder and colder, the Water Security Agency (WSA) is preparing itself for what lies ahead.  

The WSA released its Conditions at Freeze-up Report, which showed that most areas in the province are going into winter on the dry side.  

Patrick Boyle, the WSA spokesperson says that areas around the province some an influx of moisture in the spring due to runoff, but then saw a drop-off later in the year.  

“What happened was the last half of the summer and early fall were fairly dry and that resulted in the drier than normal moisture conditions at freeze-up,” says Boyle.  

Heading into the beginning of fall, parts of the southwest and east central saw a big snow event, that one would’ve thought would add to the precipitation levels, but that wasn’t the case.  

“It melted and with dry soil conditions the ground just sucked a lot of that moisture right up. That did help near the surface in some of those soil moisture conditions, but for the most part a lot of the areas are fairly dry.” 

The snow event hit Moose Jaw on Oct. 23, which dumped 25 to 40 centimetres of wet snow in the city. Some areas around Moose Jaw saw less, with others seeing more.

In terms of Lake Diefenbaker, which is fed by the South Saskatchewan River, Boyle says it did see some increases but ended up below average.  

“Lake Diefenbaker at the start of November was at 554.9 metres, which was 0.6 metres below the 30-year normal level, but 1.7 metres higher than 2021. We’re in a better spot than we were last year with Lake Diefenbaker.” 

Boyle adds that they aren’t concerned with the current water levels heading into winter, as like Lake Diefenbaker all the reservoirs across the province have an adequate supply. 

“We’re looking to keep Lake Diefenbaker higher and targeting a higher elevation into next spring, so no concerns. Having said that the winter run-off in the picture still has to form and this is the first part of the picture is what are the conditions going into freeze-up, what is the snowpack and how will it form, and the third thing is how is going to come off the landscape as it melts in 2023 and how do we see the water movement at that point in time.” 

With the first part of their winter preparations in motion with the freeze-up beginning, they are onto step two, which is looking at the snowpack and how much snow and when will they get.  

The WSA will begin snow surveys in February 2023, which will help determine if the moisture will infiltrate into the soil or run off toward reservoirs.   

“What the means is that we will go out and sample some of that snow. What we check is what is called a snow/water equivalent or how much water is contained in that snow. Then we can do a calculation based on that to see how it will run off the landscape based on some of that data from Environment and Climate Change Canada and also the National US Weather System.” 

Boyle concludes by saying that Lake Diefenbaker and other reservoirs within the process have already started winterizing and making those appropriate operational changes to prepare for what’s to come in the spring.  

The initial Spring Runoff Outlook for 2023 will be issued in early February.