Bighorn Dam
| Bighorn Dam | |
|---|---|
 A section of the Bighorn Dam | |
| Official name | Bighorn Dam |
| Location | Clearwater County, Alberta, Canada |
| Construction began | 1972 |
Bighorn Dam (or Bighorn Hydro Plant) is a dam located in Clearwater County in west-central Alberta, Canada. It was built by TransAlta Corporation in 1972, and led to the creation of Lake Abraham, Alberta's largest man-made lake.[1] The dam and associated hydroelectric plant are managed by TransAlta.
The Bighorn Plant has a generating capacity of 120 megawatts (MW), and has an available water supply that allows it to be the largest producer of hydroelectric electricity in Alberta, with an average of 408,000 megawatt hours (MW⋅h) each year.[1]
The plant is one of two TransAlta hydroelectric plants on the North Saskatchewan River System in Alberta.
The Bighorn embankment dam was built in 1972 in the mountain gap at Windy Point, in the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rockies, west of the confluence of the North Saskatchewan River and the Bighorn River.
Climate
| Climate data for Bighorn Dam | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 14.0 (57.2) |
15.5 (59.9) |
21.0 (69.8) |
25.0 (77) |
29.0 (84.2) |
33.3 (91.9) |
33.0 (91.4) |
33.0 (91.4) |
31.1 (88) |
25.5 (77.9) |
16.5 (61.7) |
15.5 (59.9) |
33.3 (91.9) |
| Average high °C (°F) | −1.1 (30) |
1.0 (33.8) |
4.3 (39.7) |
9.3 (48.7) |
14.1 (57.4) |
18.0 (64.4) |
21.2 (70.2) |
20.7 (69.3) |
15.7 (60.3) |
9.9 (49.8) |
2.4 (36.3) |
−1.4 (29.5) |
9.5 (49.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −7.2 (19) |
−5.8 (21.6) |
−2.2 (28) |
2.8 (37) |
7.5 (45.5) |
11.5 (52.7) |
14.2 (57.6) |
13.5 (56.3) |
8.6 (47.5) |
3.7 (38.7) |
−3.1 (26.4) |
−7.0 (19.4) |
3.0 (37.4) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −13.2 (8.2) |
−12.4 (9.7) |
−8.7 (16.3) |
−3.7 (25.3) |
0.9 (33.6) |
5.0 (41) |
7.2 (45) |
6.2 (43.2) |
1.5 (34.7) |
−2.6 (27.3) |
−8.6 (16.5) |
−12.5 (9.5) |
−3.4 (25.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −44.5 (−48.1) |
−43.5 (−46.3) |
−36.1 (−33) |
−21.0 (−5.8) |
−13.5 (7.7) |
−3.3 (26.1) |
−3.0 (26.6) |
−4.5 (23.9) |
−11.5 (11.3) |
−30.5 (−22.9) |
−38.0 (−36.4) |
−40.0 (−40) |
−44.5 (−48.1) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 16.6 (0.654) |
12.8 (0.504) |
20.9 (0.823) |
31.3 (1.232) |
61.3 (2.413) |
83.7 (3.295) |
77.3 (3.043) |
74.1 (2.917) |
59.3 (2.335) |
32.1 (1.264) |
18.3 (0.72) |
15.4 (0.606) |
503.1 (19.807) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 0.6 (0.024) |
0.7 (0.028) |
2.1 (0.083) |
10.1 (0.398) |
47.7 (1.878) |
83.2 (3.276) |
77.3 (3.043) |
74.0 (2.913) |
48 (1.89) |
12.5 (0.492) |
1.9 (0.075) |
1.2 (0.047) |
359.1 (14.138) |
| Average snowfall cm (inches) | 16.0 (6.3) |
12.5 (4.92) |
19.0 (7.48) |
21.3 (8.39) |
13.6 (5.35) |
0.6 (0.24) |
0.0 (0) |
0.1 (0.04) |
11.3 (4.45) |
19.7 (7.76) |
16.4 (6.46) |
14.2 (5.59) |
144.5 (56.89) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 7.3 | 5.7 | 7.6 | 7.0 | 11.8 | 13.8 | 14.7 | 14.5 | 11.3 | 6.6 | 6.0 | 5.8 | 112.0 |
| Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 9.5 | 13.8 | 14.7 | 14.4 | 10.0 | 3.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 68.8 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm) | 7.2 | 5.5 | 7.4 | 5.5 | 2.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 44.2 |
| Source #1: Environment Canada[2] | |||||||||||||
| Source #2: Precipitation Days Only[3] | |||||||||||||
References
- 1 2 "Bighorn". www.transalta.com. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
- ↑ "Canadian Climate Normals 1981-2010". Environment Canada. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
- ↑ "Canadian Climate Normals 1971-2000". Environment Canada. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
Coordinates: 52°18′31.64″N 116°19′44.98″W / 52.3087889°N 116.3291611°W