Rain came over the weekend, and even a little bit of snow, but the much- needed precipitation hoped for by area farmers and nervous fire departments is not nearly enough.
“No more than probably another five millimetres today (Monday) and then a little bit of clearing (this week),” said Kirk Torneby, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, adding the area received 10.8 mm of rain over the weekend. “Any precipitation this time of year is always welcome. It's going to help a little bit, but how much of that is actually going to soak into the soil and make a big difference (remains to be seen).”
The extremely dry early spring conditions and a lack of precipitation across Central Alberta have had local fire departments on alert, with several blazes across the province starting with the early arrival of wildfire season.
“There's no question, it's exceptionally dry,” said Dean Clark, Innisfail fire chief, late last week. “We're definitely concerned with what the weather's doing. It's been unusually hot too, and I think we broke a record today (April 19). If conditions don't improve and we continue to go through a hot, dry spell it's very possible that a fire ban may be placed on the Town of Innisfail.”
Central Alberta reached a high of 26.6 C on April 19, breaking an old record of 23.9 C on that day back in 1943.
Red Deer County currently has a fire ban in effect but not every municipality in the county does, noted Clark.
“Each municipality, if they have a bylaw in place, can place a fire ban on their respective municipality. Innisfail has such a bylaw,” he said. “There is no fire ban in Innisfail at this time.”
Penhold fire Chief Jim Pendergast noted last week there is no current fire ban for Penhold, but urges citizens to use common sense and heed all regulations pertaining to outdoor recreational fires.
“All municipalities within Red Deer County would have to issue their own fire ban if applicable,” said Pendergast. “In Penhold you are only allowed to use an approved firepit and you have to follow regulations.”
Those regulations under a Penhold bylaw include a screen cover over an approved firepit and burning clean wood. “There is no burning of leaves, grass or yard waste and (like Innisfail) there are no burning barrels allowed.
“If people follow the rules, use common sense and take the right precautions. They can still have a recreational fire in an approved pit,” he added.
The fire department in the Town of Bowden is under Red Deer County jurisdiction and when the rural municipality has a fire ban in place it also covers the town, said fire Chief Larry Werner.
“The fire ban in Bowden will be in place until Red Deer County lifts their fire ban,” said Werner. “We've been really lucky so far this spring in the town we haven't had any fires and very few in this part of the county.
“The public also has to remember that just because things are turning green, green grass does burn just as bad as brown grass in these kind of weather conditions,” explained Werner, adding he doesn't believe the fire ban will be lifted any time soon.
“They're going to need substantial rains before they lift the fire bans.”
That's a similar message resonating from Environment Canada.
“It's been a tough year,” said Brian Proctor, warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada. “Even if it probably rains 10 millimetres (in Central Alberta), it might not do much to alleviate the problem because we've been so dry.
“It's been a very, very dry winter and spring,” he added. “There's forest fire bans in place and many communities also have fire bans.”
Between January and the end of March this year, Central Alberta received 31.6 mm of precipitation, according to statistics taken at Red Deer Airport.
“Normally for January, February and March together we should see about 63.3 millimetres of precipitation,” said Proctor. “That is less than half of what we should normally have seen so far this year. That's continuing through the month of April. We've seen very little moisture across Central Alberta.”
He added there are severe impacts that come with such extreme conditions.
“It can be a horrible situation from a forest fire, a grass fire and an agricultural point of view,” said Proctor, adding the long-range forecast does not look promising.
“Our long-term climate models indicate it's going to stay dry through the end of the spring and into the early part and maybe into the middle of the summer,” Proctor concluded.
Dean Clark, Innisfail fire chief
"There's no question, it's exceptionally dry. If conditions don't improve and we continue to go through a hot, dry spell it's very possible that a fire ban may be placed on the Town of Innisfail."
