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Current weather in Alberta
The sun shines throughout our cold winters and warm summers, and over the mountains in the west, and the plains in north, centre and south.
The Rocky Mountains are perhaps Alberta's most recognizable geographic feature. Their rugged and spectacular scenery attract visitors from all over the world. Much of Alberta's oil and gas are found beneath the foothills that lie along the base of the Rockies.
The rest of the province is housed on a great plain, or prairie, which Alberta shares with Saskatchewan on the east, and with the state of Montana to the south. The plains are not totally flat. Their surface has been gouged and twisted by the action of massive glaciers that once covered the province. What is now Alberta lay buried under some 2,000 metres of ice only 8,000 or 10,000 years ago. The southern plain, which was once covered in tall grass, is today a checkerboard of farms.
The badlands are a unique area in southeastern Alberta. They are very dry and have little vegetation. Streams and rain have eroded the soft rocks, leaving bluffs, gullies, and multicoloured layers of stone. The Red Deer River has cut a deep, wide valley through the badlands, exposing the fossils of plants and animals that lived in Alberta millions of years ago, including the famous dinosaurs.
Northern Alberta is home to Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada's largest national park, and a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
World Heritage site. Wood Buffalo National Park has the world's largest free-roaming bison herd, and the last natural nesting site for the whooping crane.
Alberta's cool winter climate is a result of its northern location, which exposes residents to cold arctic air masses from the north. In contrast, summers are usually warm. Regardless of the season, Alberta's skies are often sunny.
The Rocky Mountains cast a "rain shadow" over much of Alberta. As the moist air from the Pacific Ocean rises to pass over the mountains on its way to Alberta, it is cooled, and rain or snow fall on the Pacific side of the mountains. As the air descends on Alberta, it gains heat and produces warm, dry winds.
Alberta is famous for its chinook winds, which sweep into southern Alberta several times each winter. This dry, warm wind can rapidly lift the province out of a deep freeze. During one chinook, which reached Pincher Creek on January 27, 1962, temperatures soared from -18.9°C to +3.3°C in one hour.
Related Alberta Government Ministries:
Alberta Environment
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
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