(Rural Roots Canada) – As soil conditions remain extremely dry across the mountains are the province, one source of optimism may be the snowpack in the mountains.

According to Meteorologist David Spence, it looks solid for most of the province.

“In the Waterton area in southern Alberta, that’s the only dry spot, that’s the only area where the snowpack is below average,” Spence said.

Looking north, he says it’s a much more positive story.

“If you go north of Waterton and head up through the Rockies along the Alberta and British Columbia border all the way toward Jasper, you’ll find that snowpacks are above average and in some areas considerably above average and above last year.”

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Spence says this bodes well for soil moisture.

“There’s more moisture coming into the river valleys, from the mountains than we had last year and certainly above average, so that is one glimmer of hope.”

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Even in the south, he says, where there hasn’t been much precipitation or where they may not be much precipitation for the next couple of months, it may be saved to a certain extent by runoff from the mountains.

On the flip side, he says you don’t want to see too much rain while the snow is running off.

“If we get a precipitation event while the snow is running off, I’m thinking of course of June 2013, that’s not what we need, that’s too much, too fast, too rapid we need something a little more measured, of course.”

Spence says May, June, and July are the wettest months in southern Alberta, so almost anything could happen, but at the very least, he thinks we are going to have a very healthy runoff this year.