News Type:
Water monitoring bulletin
The Government of the Northwest Territories maintains water monitoring stations across the territory to keep track of water levels and flow rates in areas of potential flood risk for communities.
This information is provided regularly to territorial and regional emergency managers to help understand the status of waterways across the NWT in the lead-up to, and during spring break-up – the highest-risk period for floods in the Northwest Territories.
Technical Data
Current Status:
- Water levels and flow rates are very low across most of the NWT.
- Great Slave Lake water level is currently well below average and similar to the level recorded at this time last year.
- Hay River water level is well below average for this time of year.
- Liard River water level is below average for this time of year.
- Mackenzie River water level, recorded at several stations along the river, is well below average for this time of year.
- Great Bear Lake remains at its lowest water level for this time of year and is similar to the level recorded at this time last year.
- Notable exceptions to low water levels include:
- Slave River (average)
- South Nahanni River (above average)
- Coppermine River (above average)
- Some smaller rivers in the Great Slave Lake basin, including:
- Lockhart River (above average)
- Hoarfrost River (average)
- Taltson River (average)
- Water level sensors can often be damaged or transmit incorrect readings this time of year due to interactions with ice. Water level graphs should be interpreted with caution.
- Low water levels are the result of extreme drought conditions that began in the summer of 2022 and have persisted through 2023, 2024 and 2025. Water levels have shown limited recovery since 2022.
- December precipitation was variable across the NWT:
- Well below average: Yellowknife and Inuvik.
- Below average: Norman Wells.
- Average: Hay River and Fort Smith.
- Above average: Fort Simpson.
- December temperatures were much cooler than normal across the NWT, except for in Inuvik where temperatures were average.
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Water levels on Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River are strongly influenced by precipitation received in northern British Columbia and Alberta.
- So far this early winter, precipitation in these areas has been average to well above average, and the headwaters of the Peace River have received record high cumulative precipitation (see data for the community of Mackenzie on pg 24).
- Climate forecasts from ECCC for January to March 2026 indicate cooler than average temperatures for southern regions of the NWT, approximately average temperatures for central NWT, and warmer than average temperatures for the northern regions. Precipitation is forecast to be approximately average across the NWT.