Community Climate Risk Index
Calgary is experiencing more frequent heat waves, drought, heavy rainfall, flooding, severe storms and other climate-related hazards. These events can affect community well-being, safety, livability and quality of life. The Community Climate Risk Index helps Calgarians understand which hazards may affect their neighbourhood, and the built, natural and social factors that may shape local risk.
Know your risk
Find your community profile to see which hazards are most relevant in your neighbourhood.
Protect your home
Use City resources to prepare your home, property and health for extreme heat, flooding, drought, storms and other hazards.
Support your community
Use the information to support community planning, local projects and conversations about resilience.
Find your community’s Climate Risk Profile
What you’ll find in your community profile
Each Community Climate Risk Profile summarizes the top climate hazards for a community, relative to the Calgary average, in both a 2024 and 2050 timeframe*. Profiles also describe built, natural and social factors that may shape local risk.
Behind the community profiles is a Communities Climate Risk Index (CCRI) which looks at three things: the likelihood of a hazard, what people or places may be exposed, and how sensitive or prepared a community may be. Together, these factors help show how climate risk may differ across communities.
Climate Risk = hazard × exposure × vulnerability
*The climate risk levels in this report are relative — they show how each community compares to the Calgary average, not to a fixed standard. The report doesn’t include recent or ongoing investments that may reduce risk. It provides a snapshot in time, not a measure of what level of risk is acceptable. The data used comes from different years: 2021 census data, 2024 land cover data, 2022 tree canopy data, and 2021 to 2024 building data. The report is updated every four years.
Learn more about the eight hazards that are assessed in the CCRI.
How to use this information
How residents can use this information
- Learn which hazards are most relevant in your neighbourhood.
- Prepare your home, property and household emergency plans.
- Find programs and resources that support preparedness.
How community organizations can use this information
- Identify local priorities for education, outreach or resilience projects.
- Support grant applications or community-led preparedness work.
- Start conversations with residents about shared risks and practical actions.
How The City uses this information
- Inform planning, service delivery and climate adaptation work.
- Better understand differences in exposure and vulnerability across communities.
- Support more equitable and targeted preparedness efforts.
Resources and programs
Resources for your home
- Self-assess your home to understand how you can better prepare for hazards.
- Prepare your home, property and health from climate hazard events:
- Stay safe during climate events by learning how to prepare and respond.
- For resources for those who are more affected by climate change, and to learn more about climate equity, visit Calgary.ca/ClimateEquity.
Financial support programs
- Home Upgrades Program: free energy efficiency upgrades for income-qualified homeowners based. The program is funded by The City and implemented by Alberta Ecotrust and EmpowerMe.
- Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP) from The City offers financing for home energy improvement. We expect to offer another application intake in 2026, pending availability of funding. The next intake will be announced 30 days in advance. Sign up for email updates.
- Branching Out Tree Program provides trees at no cost from The City. New updates are released each spring.
- Green Calgary's Rain Barrel Program offers rain barrels at a lower cost than retail stores. These rain barrels go on sale April 1.
- ClimateReadyYYC offers grants (up to $25,000) to help communities adapt to climate change.
What is The City doing?
- For long term direction, check out Calgary’s Climate Strategy – Pathways to 2050
- For short term action, check out the 2023-2026 Climate Implementation Plan
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Download your Community Climate Risk Profile.
Climate hazards assessed in the CCRI
The following hazards are identified within the CCRI, using the definitions provided in the drop downs below. To learn more about how Calgary’s climate hazards will change overtime, read the Calgary Climate Projections Report.
Extreme heat
Extreme heat: Two or more days where temperatures rise to or above 29°C and stay above 14°C at night.
Definition derived from the Government of Alberta’s heat alert warnings.
- For more info on Calgary’s urban heat, check out the Urban Heat Map
Higher average temperatures
Higher average temperatures: Gradual temperature increases that affect ecosystems and infrastructure.
Drought
Drought: Two or more weeks with very little rain.
The Government of Canada defines meteorological drought as a prolonged period of dry weather that depletes water resources. A minimum of two weeks was determined for this assessment as a quantifiable metric. The Calgary 2024 Climate projections report defines a dry spell as a daily precipitation below 1mm for a minimum of 14 days.
- For more info on drought risk in Calgary, check out the Disaster Risk Explorer.
Intense precipitation
Intense precipitation: A short period of heavy rain which would cause overland flooding, that has a 1 per cent chance of occurring any given year.
Based on key considerations developed by the consultant team in the Climate Data for Hydrologic and Hydraulic Analysis project, conducted in 2020/21 by GHD, The City of Calgary, the Calgary Airport Authority, and with expert review by the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium. The likelihood scale below was developed to convey the historical and future likelihood of SDHI flooding using the 1:100-year flood as the threshold event and observing the increase in frequency of events with similar volumes.
Short duration high intensity precipitation likelihood scoring
| Likelihood rating | Annual probability of cccurrence |
|---|---|
| Likelihood rating: 1 Least likely | Annual probability of cccurrence: 0.5% chance of this event happening in a given year (1:200) |
| Likelihood rating: 2 Unlikely | Annual probability of cccurrence: 1% chance of this event happening in a given year (1:100) |
| Likelihood rating: 3 Possible | Annual probability of cccurrence: 1.4% chance of the event happening in a given year (1:70 event) |
| Likelihood rating: 4 Likely | Annual probability of cccurrence: 2% chance of the event happening in a given year (1:50 event) |
| Likelihood rating: 5 Most likely | Annual probability of cccurrence: 4% chance of the event happening in a given year (1:25 event) |
- For more info on heavy rain trends in Calgary, check out the Disaster Risk Explorer.
River flooding
River flooding: An excess of water flowing through the Bow and Elbow rivers that spills over the riverbanks into the nearby communities, that has a 1 per cent chance of occurring any given year.
A 1:100-year river flood (an event with a 1 per cent chance of occurring in any given year) has been selected as the threshold event to demonstrate how river flooding may evolve from the present day to the 2050s. The 1:100-year event reflects many provincial and municipal regulations, current design standards for much of The City of Calgary’s infrastructure
- For more info on Calgary’s river flood zones, check out the River Flood Story Map.
Severe storms
Severe storms: Strong winds, hail, lightning or heavy rain that create hazardous conditions or cause damage.
Convective events/conditions designation was determined by specific GHD methodology and a weather typing model to identify potential convective precipitation events based on historical data (GHD, 2020). Reference: GHD (2020). (tech). Climate Data for Hydrologic and Hydraulic Analysis Technical Memorandum
- For more info on storm risk in Calgary, check out the Disaster Risk Explorer.