The water level on the Athabasca River has returned to normal thanks to several rainy days over the past week.
According to real-time data from the federal government, the water level in the river has risen by about 45 cm over the past seven days, but there is no need for concern.
"As of last week, the Athabasca River was well below the normal range for the time of year," said Jason Penner, public affairs officer with Alberta Environment and Parks.
"The recent rain and increase in river levels is good news, as it brought the river back to normal levels without posing a flood risk."
According to the real-time date, the river peaked in Jasper at 2.3 metres between July 14 and July 15 and has been steadily dropping since.
"There is some rain expected for the area, but we are expecting much less in the Athabasca River basin as compared to other areas of the province. There are no flooding concerns anywhere in the Athabasca River basin," said Penner.
To date Jasper has received 46 mm of rain for the month of July, according to Dan Kulak, a meteorologist for Environment Canada.
On average, he said the park receives about 88.9 mm of rain in July.
The wettest day of the month so far was July 13 when the park received 15.8 mm of rain in one day.
To put that in perspective the wettest day on record happened on June 3, 1980, when the park received 75 mm of rain in a single day.
The weekend forecast is calling for more rain with a 60 per cent chance of precipitation and risk of a thunderstorm on Saturday and a 40 per cent chance of rain on Sunday.
In June, Jasper received 28.3 mm of rain, well below the monthly average.
Paul Clarke
[email protected]
