The Calgary Herald has reported on CH work which indicates that flooding in the Bow Valley of the magnitude experienced during June 2013 is likely to occur approximately once in 32 years in the Banff area, and once in 45 years through Calgary: this is much shorter than the 100-year return period for this scale of event currently adopted by the Alberta Ministry of Environment and Sustanable Resource Development.

In the article, Prof. John Pomeroy also points out that changing climatic conditions (winters in the Banff area are now some 5°C warmer than they were in the late 1800s) are making it challenging to predict events of this type, and this hampers development of appropriate mitigation strategies. He suggests that improved observation, modelling and warning systems are required, together with changes in property development guidelines and infrastructure upgrades.

The article is available in full here.

The work of CH staff during and since this past summer’s flooding events in Canmore and across Alberta are described in an article by Bob andford in the Fall 2013 issue of the U of S’s Arts & Science Magazine, available here.