Rainy forecast not enough to reverse course on Alberta's wildfire season, cautions meteorologist

As rain falls in communities across Alberta Wednesday, federal meteorologists caution the incoming storms will not be enough to reverse course on a devastating wildfire season.

Sara Hoffman, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said the heavy rains forecasted in the days ahead will not dampen the wildfire risk for long. 

Meanwhile the incoming storms also bring the risk of high winds that could fan the flames of existing fires and lighting strikes that could ignite new ones.

Hoffman said Alberta endured a particularly dry winter, followed by an unusually parched spring, with communities including Edmonton and Calgary recording little to no precipitation in the first two weeks of June.

"We came into the summer season with a huge deficit within precipitation," Hoffman said. 

"We're going to need to see above normal precipitation amounts to try and counteract that extreme deficit. And our long range forecast is not, unfortunately, what it's calling for." 

To bring Alberta forests back into balance, the province would need extended rains, unusually high levels of precipitation for weeks, not days, Hoffman said. 

The wet weather will temporarily dampen parched forests but any relief provided will be short-lived when the heat returns. 

The shift in the forecast, however, is good news, Hoffman said. A low pressure system moving across the province will deliver widespread rain to some of the driest regions in Alberta.

Environment Canada is expecting widespread rainfall, with anywhere from five and 25 millilitres of precipitation falling in almost all areas of the province. 

As the system moves toward Saskatchewan on Thursday, Alberta remains in an unstable weather pattern marked by cooler temperatures and scattered showers, Hoffman said.

As of Wednesday morning, 79 wildfires were burning across the province. Of the 76 burning inside Alberta's forest protection areas, 22 were out of control.

According to an estimate on the Alberta Wildfire dashboard, more than 1,427,000 hectares have burned so far this year, surpassing the previous record of 1,357,000 set in 1981.

A light rain was falling in Edson Wednesday morning as firefighters attempted to hold the line on a fire burning  around 1.5 kilometres from the town's southern boundary.