Weather and Safety

Why the weather comes first

Gary started his west Lethbridge weather website in 2007, and built his own weather station. His reason is the same reason this page exists:

Southern Alberta’s weather changes fast. A calm, hot morning can bring a thunderstorm with hail by late afternoon, a cold front can drop the temperature sharply within an hour, and the wind can go from a breeze to 80 km/h gusts with little warning. In the mountain parks, everything happens faster still. Many camping emergencies here start with weather someone didn’t check, or didn’t take seriously.

Staying informed

• Check the forecast before you leave, the morning you go, and at camp whenever you have a signal. Look at wind gusts, thunderstorm risk and the overnight low, not just the daytime high.
• Know the alerts. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issues weather watches, warnings and advisories for Alberta. A watch means conditions are right for severe weather to develop; a warning means it’s happening or about to.
• Get the Alberta Emergency Alert app. The Government of Alberta says ECCC is responsible for weather alerts in Alberta, and emergency alerts reach mobile devices, TV and radio at no cost. The app helps make sure you receive them.
• Watch the rivers with the Government of Alberta’s Alberta Rivers website and app, which show river flows and levels, advisories, and flood watches and warnings.
• Use your eyes and ears. Towering clouds building to the west, a sudden cool gust, a darkening sky, or thunder in the distance all mean act now, not later.
• Carry a backup. A battery-powered or hand-crank weather radio works where phones don’t. Gary carries a handheld weather meter and compares several forecasts with his own station’s readings.

Prairie and mountain storms

Summer thunderstorms on the prairie usually build in the afternoon and evening, often along the foothills first, then drift east. They can bring lightning, sudden strong winds, hail, and heavy rain in a short time. In the mountains, storms can form quickly over the peaks and arrive with little warning, even on a clear morning.

Gary has been caught out in one. He once took his kids to provide ham radio communications for the Ride for Dreams. A rider had been hit by lightning the year before, and cell coverage was poor.

When a storm is coming

1. Secure camp early: roll in awnings, take down tarps and canopies, stow chairs and loose gear, close windows and vents, check guy lines.
2. Get everyone together, and decide where you’ll shelter before the first thunder.
3. Move to safe shelter at the first rumble of thunder: a building with plumbing and wiring, or a hard-topped metal vehicle.
4. Stay there until 30 minutes after the last thunder.
5. Afterwards, check for fallen branches, rising water, damaged gear and downed power lines before going back to camp.

Lightning

Environment and Climate Change Canada’s advice for campers is direct: there is no safe place outside in a thunderstorm. When thunder roars, go indoors.

• Use the 30-minute rule. Stay in a safe place for 30 minutes after the last rumble of thunder. ECCC says about one third of lightning casualties happen after the storm, when people go back out too soon.
• Choose your site with lightning in mind. Don’t pitch a tent or park a trailer under an isolated or the tallest tree, close to a metal fence, or on a hilltop.
• If you’re caught outside, stay away from tall objects such as trees, poles, wires and fences, avoid ridges, peaks and wide open areas, and take shelter in a low-lying area. Get to a vehicle or building as soon as you can.
• On the water, get off and away from it at the first thunder.

Wind

Lethbridge is one of the windiest cities in Canada, ranked second for windy days, with gusts of 40 km/h or more on around 116 days a year. Chinook winds, thunderstorm outflows and cold fronts can all bring sudden, much stronger gusts. Mountain valleys and passes can funnel wind even harder, and Waterton is known for it.

What wind does to a camp

• Awnings are the most common casualty. A gust can rip an awning off or fold it over the roof in seconds. Roll it in whenever you leave the site, go to bed, or the wind starts to rise.
• Tents collapse, tear, or blow away if they aren’t staked and guyed. See pitching for wind.
• Canopies and pop-up shelters become kites. Take them down when wind is forecast, and never leave one up while you’re away.
• Tarps pitched flat and high catch the wind; pitch them low and angled.
• Trees and branches come down, especially dead ones and old cottonwoods. Don’t camp under dead wood.
• Campfires throw sparks into dry grass. If it’s too windy to sit comfortably by the fire, it’s too windy for a fire.
• Doors on trailers and vehicles can be ripped from your hand. Hold on to them.
• On the highway, crosswinds push trailers and high-sided RVs around. See wind on the highway.

Hail

Hail is common in southern Alberta from June to August, mostly with afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Hailstones can range from peas to golf balls or larger, and a few minutes of hail can strip leaves, shred tent flies and canopies, dent vehicles and crack trailer roof vents and skylights.

• Shelter in a building or a hard-topped vehicle. A tent gives no protection from large hail.
• Stay away from windows in vehicles and trailers if large hail is falling, and protect your head.
• Protect children and pets first, then gear.
• Afterwards, check roofs, vents and skylights on RVs for damage, and dry out anything that got wet.
• Hail usually comes with thunderstorms, so the lightning rules apply too.

Flash floods near rivers

Many of our favourite campgrounds sit in river valleys and beside reservoirs and creeks. Heavy rain, especially in the mountains and foothills upstream, can make rivers rise quickly, sometimes when it isn’t raining where you are. Coulees and dry gullies can carry sudden runoff in a downpour.

• Don’t camp in dry creek beds, gullies or low spots beside the water. On public land, Alberta’s rules require camping at least 30 m from lakes and streams.
• Check the Alberta Rivers website or app for high streamflow advisories and flood watches or warnings before you go and while you’re there.
• Know your way out to higher ground, and park facing the exit.
• Watch the water. Rising levels, muddy water, floating debris and a roaring sound upstream are signs to move.
• Never drive or walk through flood water. It’s often deeper and faster than it looks, and it can wash out roads beneath it.
• Remember the wider effects. Floods change riverbanks, campsites and channels. Gary’s grandkids saw a flood reshape their campground; see learning from what’s around you.

Heat and sun

Summer afternoons here can be hot, dry and very sunny. Health Canada says older adults, infants and young children, and people with heart or breathing problems are most at risk in the heat, so check on them often, and ask a pharmacist whether any medicines affect how you handle heat. Health Canada’s advice:

• Drink water regularly, even before you feel thirsty. Bring more than you think you’ll need.
• Find shade in the heat of the day, under trees or a tarp. Wear loose, light-coloured clothing.
• Know heat exhaustion: dizziness, nausea, heavy sweating, headache and unusual thirst. Move to a cool place and drink water.
• Heat stroke is a medical emergency: confusion, fainting, or very hot, red skin with no sweating. Call 911, move the person somewhere cooler, apply cold water to large areas of skin and fan them while you wait.
• Never leave children or pets alone in a parked vehicle or closed trailer.

For sun, the Canadian Cancer Society recommends extra protection whenever the UV Index is 3 or more: shade, a wide-brimmed hat, tightly woven clothing, sunglasses, and a broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher, reapplied at least every two hours.

Cold nights

A hot day doesn’t mean a warm night. Our dry air and clear skies let heat escape quickly after sunset, and nights in May, June and September, and in the mountains all summer, can fall near or below freezing.

The Canada Safety Council warns that hypothermia can happen at temperatures under 10°C, and wind, wet and cold are the key factors. Wet clothing is a common cause.

• Watch for the early signs: shivering, grogginess and muddled thinking. Violent shivering, or shivering that stops, is more serious.
• Act early: get the person out of the wind and into dry clothes and a warm sleeping bag, give a warm, non-alcoholic drink if they’re alert, and get medical help for anything beyond mild symptoms.
• Prevent it: layers, no cotton, a warm hat, dry sleep clothes, a sleeping bag rated for the low, and a well-insulated pad. See sleeping warm and clothing.

Wildfire smoke and the AQHI

Wildfire smoke from Alberta, British Columbia and beyond can blanket southern Alberta for days at a time in summer. The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) tells you how risky the air is, on a scale where lower is better.

• Check the AQHI on the Government of Alberta’s air quality map before and during a trip.
• In heavy smoke, a hard-sided trailer or vehicle with windows closed gives more protection than a tent.
• Smoke often comes with fire bans and sometimes with closures. Check fire bans and park advisories.

Wildlife: bears, rattlesnakes and ticks

Bears in the mountain parks

Black bears and grizzly bears live in Waterton, the Castle area and the foothills. Parks Canada’s advice:

• Keep a bare campsite: store food, garbage, coolers and anything scented in a vehicle, hard-sided trailer or bear-proof locker. Locked coolers are not bear-proof.
• Carry bear spray where you can reach it quickly, and know how to use it.
• Travel in groups and make noise, especially near water, berry patches and blind corners.
• Stay at least 100 m from bears, cougars and wolves, and 30 m from elk, deer, moose and sheep.
• Keep dogs on a leash. If a cougar approaches, pick up small children right away, act aggressively, and don’t run.

Rattlesnakes in the coulees

Prairie rattlesnakes live in the coulees and river valleys around Lethbridge and across the dry prairie. They usually avoid people. The City of Lethbridge’s advice:

• Stay on established trails, and watch where you step and put your hands.
• If you meet a rattlesnake, stay calm, back away slowly and give it space. Don’t run; there may be others nearby.
• Keep dogs on a leash. If a pet is bitten, get it to a vet as soon as possible.
• If a person is bitten, stay calm, call 911 or get to a hospital as quickly as possible, and keep the person as still as you can. Don’t try to cut or suck out the venom.

Ticks

Ticks are most active in spring and early summer, in long grass and brush. Parks Canada advises checking your clothing and body after hiking in May and June. The Government of Alberta says the risk of getting Lyme disease from a tick bite in Alberta is considered very low, but ticks can carry other illnesses too.

• Wear long pants tucked into socks in tall grass, and use an insect repellent approved for ticks.
• Check yourself, children and pets every day, especially hairlines, behind ears, armpits and waistbands.
• Remove ticks promptly. Alberta notes that removing a tick within 24 hours greatly reduces the chance of disease.
• Alberta’s tick surveillance program lets you submit a photo of a tick through the eTick app or website to have it identified.

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide (CO) has no colour, no smell and no taste. Any fuel-burning appliance can produce it: stoves, heaters, lanterns, barbecues, generators and vehicle engines. In a tent, a camper, a vehicle or a garage it can build up to deadly levels, often while people sleep. Early symptoms such as tiredness, headache and shortness of breath are easy to mistake for a cold, the flu or a long day.

When the power goes out at home, the same danger moves indoors. It’s tempting to cook or warm up with camping gear in the garage, but Health Canada is clear that it isn’t safe there either.

Staying safe from CO

• Cook outside, never in a tent, vestibule or closed camper. Halifax Fire’s advice for campers: never operate fuel-based appliances, including generators, heaters and cooking devices, in or near tents.
• No fuel-burning heaters or lanterns while you sleep in a tent, camper or vehicle. These have caused camping deaths.
• Run generators well away from your camper, your neighbours’ campers and any open windows, with the exhaust pointing away. Never inside or under an RV.
• Have a working CO alarm in every RV with fuel-burning appliances. Check the expiry date and test it every trip.
• Don’t sit in an idling vehicle to stay warm for long, and never with the exhaust blocked by snow, mud or a tarp.
• If a CO alarm sounds, or anyone feels headachy, dizzy, sleepy or sick around a fuel-burning appliance, get everyone into fresh air right away and call 911. Don’t go back in.

For the home side of power outages, see our home-ready page for kids and families, which covers power outages and the family ready kit.

Sources

• Environment and Climate Change Canada, Lightning safety when camping: canada.ca
• Environment and Climate Change Canada, Lethbridge forecast: weather.gc.ca
• Government of Alberta, Emergency alerts (Alberta Emergency Alert app; ECCC responsible for weather alerts): alberta.ca
• Government of Alberta, Alberta Rivers (river flows, advisories, flood watches and warnings, mobile app): rivers.alberta.ca
• Lethbridge Polytechnic, Wider Horizons, “Campus in season” (Lethbridge ranked second for windy days): lethpolytech.ca
• Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, Lethbridge (about 116 days a year with gusts of 40 km/h or more).
• Government of Alberta, Camping on public land (30 m from lakes and streams): alberta.ca
• Health Canada, Fact sheet: Staying healthy in the heat: canada.ca
• Canadian Cancer Society, Be sun safe to help reduce your skin cancer risk: cancer.ca
• Canada Safety Council, The cold facts on hypothermia: canadasafetycouncil.org
• Environment and Climate Change Canada, About the Air Quality Health Index: canada.ca
• Government of Alberta, Air quality monitoring and wildfire smoke (AQHI map): alberta.ca
• Parks Canada, Wildlife safety, Waterton Lakes National Park: parks.canada.ca
• City of Lethbridge, Rattlesnake mitigation: lethbridge.ca
• Government of Alberta, Lyme disease and tick surveillance: alberta.ca
• Health Canada, Infographic: Carbon monoxide: canada.ca
• Halifax Regional Municipality, Tent and trailer camping fire safety: halifax.ca
• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Portable heaters and camping equipment: cpsc.gov
• Alberta Parks, Generators in campgrounds (exhaust not toward neighbours): albertaparks.ca