Alberta wildfire season still unpredictable despite record-high snow fall

Wildfire east of La Crete Ferry. (Credit: Alberta Wildfire)

While some areas of Alberta are seeing record-breaking amounts of snow, officials say the forecasted wildfire season is still unpredictable.

“At this point in the yearly cycle, what’s here today is not going to be as important as what we see on the ground as we get into mid-to-late March and into early April,” said Alberta Wildfire information officer Derrick Forsythe.

With a warmer spell sweeping many parts of the province, snow is melting, but it hasn’t gotten warm enough for the ground to thaw.

“Whatever is melting away now is running off into streams or into low spots. It’s not really soaking into the ground because the ground is still frozen.”

Since the beginning of 2026, there have been four new wildfires, all in the Rocky Mountain House forest area, with the largest being 258 hectares in size.

Forsythe said most wildfires in the winter are caused by human activity.

“If something does spark off and start, it spreads really easily because everything is dead and desiccated from the last year,” he said.

Alberta has seen 16 wildfires carry over from 2025.

“We continue to work them until the snow falls because once the snow comes down, it acts like a blanket over top of any potential hot spots, so our thermal imagery can’t see it,” said Forsythe. “We have to see it before we can go get it. We can’t go in blind.”

Once the snow is gone, Alberta Wildfire will identify hot spots and get crews back working on them.

Although wildfires are less common in the winter, Forsythe encourages Albertans to remain diligent as the agency doesn’t have as many firefighters as it would during the summer months.

“Normally it isn’t a problem because it’s winter, but given the weather patterns we’re seeing, we just ask people to be careful,” said Forsythe.

Wildfire season in Alberta begins March 1 and goes until Oct. 31.