Government officials are keeping an eye on a couple of areas where the risk of flooding may be higher than normal.

Ric Janowicz of the government's hydrology branch said Thursday the amount of water in the snowpack in the Liard River basin is 32 per cent above average.

The snowpack, however, is only one factor, he emphasized.

Janowicz said spring temperatures that affect the rate of snow melt, combined with the amount of rainfall, also play into the equation, making it difficult to predict with any certainty.

"We are keeping our eye on a few locations where there is high snow around communities, and Upper Liard is one we are keeping an eye on,” he said.

Janowicz said the snowpack in the Hyland River region of the Liard watershed is at a record level, though it's much tamer through the entire basin.

The long-range forecast is pointing toward above-normal temperatures and average rainfall, he said.

Spring runoff in the Liard River usually peaks in the first week of June, according to the flood risk report issued this week by the Yukon's Emergency Measures Organization.

The report says the community of Upper Liard is the only one in a moderate to high risk of flooding.

The risk at Dawson City, Rock Creek, Old Crow, and Teslin is low, while Mayo and the Southern Lakes region fall into the low-to-moderate category, says the report.

Carmacks and Ross River are at a moderate risk.

Janowicz said if flooding does occur in Carmacks, it would be along the Nordenskiold River, not the Yukon, because it's in the Nordenskiold basin where the snowpack conditions are 41 per cent above normal.

Eyes were on the Nordenskiold basin last year too, though the spring melt and rainfall were such that no issue materialized, he said.

The manager of hydrology said the snowpack conditions in the Southern Lakes and the Upper Yukon River basin are also above average, especially at Log Cabin along the South Klondike Highway.

The spring survey indicates conditions at Log Cabin are 67 per cent above normal, the highest at that location since spring measurements began in 1958.

Across the entire basin, however, the snowpack is 36 per cent above the annual average.

Janowicz said unlike Upper Liard, Mayo and some other communities, flood risks in the Upper Yukon River basin are not tied solely to snowpack, spring temperatures and rainfall.

Rather, he explained, the snowpack only contributes 25 per cent of the water in the equation, while glacier melt accounts for 45 per cent and rainfall 35 per cent, normally.

Unlike other areas where flooding usually occurs in early June and is associated with the spring runoff, the Southern Lakes flood season is in August because of the glacial melt component, Janowicz said.

He said in the devastating flood year of 2007, it was a perfect storm that wreaked havoc in the Southern Lakes, particularly among the residential communities at the north end of Marsh lake: snowpack conditions were 57 per above normal; rainfall was higher than average; and balmly summer conditions brought about a significant glacial melt.

The risk of flooding in Dawson and Old Crow is also tied to a different can of worms, Janowicz explained. Flooding in those communties is usually caused by the breakup of the Yukon and Porcupine rivers.

He said, for instance, if the spring is generally cooler with below-average runoff, the river ice generally solid and strong. And when breakup suddenly occurs, the ice is still robust, and much more able to hold back the flow of the river, he explained.

Janowicz said if the temperatures are normal and the melt is typical, the river ice softens with the runoff and when breakup happens, it's much weaker and less able to hold back the river if ice jamming occurs.

So far, said the manager of hydrology, there's nothing indicating the breakup of the Yukon and Porcupine will be anything other than normal.