The Montreal River flows through Air Ronge and Lac La Ronge Indian Band reserve land. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

melting snow

Montreal River much lower than normal

Apr 9, 2025 | 2:03 PM

The water level on the Montreal River between Bigstone Lake and Lac La Ronge is much lower than usual.

“It is quite low. It’s not unusual. Sometimes it is very low like it is now and sometimes it is quite high,” said Lac La Ronge Indian Band Elder Tom Roberts.

“This time it is quite low, but last fall and all last summer, we had low water levels all over the North along the Churchill River north of this area. The water level remained low on La Ronge lake and it was low on the Montreal River.”

According to an outlook report from the Water Security Agency, the spring runoff forecast for the region as of April 1 is below normal with the east side of Lac La Ronge expected to be near normal. The water level of Lac La Ronge currently sits at 364.02 meters above sea level with the normal summer level being 364.4 m.

The vast majority of Northern Saskatchewan stretching as far south as Meadow Lake, Spiritwood and Waskesiu are also expected to have a below normal runoff.

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The La Ronge area also has a high drought risk for 2025. The majority of the northeast section of the province falls under that category including places such as Southend and Wollaston Lake. The report notes following a heavy rain event early in September 2024, the remainder of the fall was generally drier than normal across the province.

With the two dry months leading up to freeze up, most of central, northern and southeastern Saskatchewan went into the winter with drier than normal soil moisture conditions.

Roberts is hopeful water levels will rise in the coming months because moisture is needed in the region. He added the snow melt has been very slow this spring compared to other years.

“The water may come up probably by June,” Roberts said.

“We got a lot of snow this winter. The water level looks low, but as soon as the snow all melts, we should have a fairly decent summer for water levels.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com