NWT issues first breakup report of 2024 spring season

The NWT government has published its first spring breakup report for 2024, tracking the movement of ice and water along the territory’s rivers as conditions warm up.

The basic message in report number one is that not a lot is happening yet.

Warm conditions across much of the territory – and parts of northern Alberta and BC that contribute to NWT river basins – mean snowmelt is “well under way” in the Hay River and lower Liard River basins, the Department of Environment and Climate Change reported.

Water levels are slowly increasing under the ice along those rivers, ECC stated, and small sections of open water are developing on the Hay River, but the river ice is largely intact.

Warm weather means spring breakup and water level rise is happening earlier than usual on the Hay River, “but the rate of increase is still small and normal for the onset of freshet,” ECC reported.

Data suggests water levels on the Hay River and its tributaries are either normal or below-average for this time of year. Those water levels appear no longer to be at record-low depths in most cases.

Along the Mackenzie River and on Great Slave Lake, by contrast, many water monitoring stations still show record lows for the time of year.

“Water levels are slowly beginning to rise underneath the ice at the Mackenzie River at Fort Simpson, but the rate of increase is still very small,” ECC wrote in its update.

In the Dehcho, the Liard River’s water level is about average for the time of year at Fort Liard itself, and somewhat lower than average where it reaches the Mackenzie River at Fort Simpson.

The department’s initial report for the season contained no significant assessment of conditions farther north, where breakup has yet to start.

“The Hay River basin and the southern Dehcho region are forecast to see above-normal temperatures persisting through to next weekend. There is no significant precipitation in the forecast,” the report stated.