A flood study covers Thorncliffe: 1 on the national inventory, the newest from Government of Alberta
No wildfire is mapped within 25 km of Thorncliffe’s homes since 1986 (0% of the land, 0.000% a year). Earthquake risk in Thorncliffe is ordinary: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.023 a year per $1,000 of value, close to the typical town’s $0.030. About as many homes carry radon around Thorncliffe as elsewhere, 8.1% over the guideline where the typical town has 6.6%. Hazard risk gives Thorncliffe a grade of B+, from earthquakes and radon alone.
What stands out about Thorncliffe’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Thorncliffe: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Thorncliffe faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Hazard risk in Thorncliffe: B+
Two inputs always count for Thorncliffe, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #282 of 474 in Alberta and #1,102 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Little of the land around Thorncliffe has burned: 0% within 5 km, 0% within 25 km since 1986
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Thorncliffe’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Around Thorncliffe fire takes 0.000% of the land in a typical year, the typical Canadian town 0.000%, which is low.
No fire has burned within 5 km of Thorncliffe’s homes since 1986; the nearest burn is 9.4 km away.
Forest fuel is scarce around Thorncliffe: 0% of the land within 5 km, 0.7% within 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Alberta · highest of 478
Near-zero burning puts Thorncliffe with 386 of the 478 towns in Alberta, far below Wainwright at 1.43%.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Most of the country’s 2,610 towns are low-band (92%, against 7.5% above); around Thorncliffe, burning rounds to zero.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
A flood study covers Thorncliffe, from Government of Alberta: 1 on the inventory
Flood studies whose area touches Thorncliffe, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
A 2012 study by Government of Alberta covers Thorncliffe, and its map, not the inventory, shows the zones.
| Study | By | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nose and West Nose Creek Flood Hazard Study | Government of Alberta | 2012 | final |
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Alberta, 46% of towns against 58% nationally, but Thorncliffe has one.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nothing here counts toward Risk; the studies are pointers to the maps their owners keep for Thorncliffe.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory; links go to each study’s owner.
Earthquakes cost buildings in Thorncliffe $0.023 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
With $0.023 of shaking damage a year per $1,000, Thorncliffe is about even with the typical $0.030 (0.8 times).
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Above the middle in Alberta: Thorncliffe’s $0.023 against a median of $0.013, with Black Diamond highest at $0.048.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Thorncliffe’s earthquake risk lands near the centre of Canada’s range; 54% of the 2,611 towns are higher.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
Roads, pipes and bridges aren’t in Thorncliffe’s figure, nor landslides or tsunami: it is buildings and shaking.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean). · Earthquake risk: one figure for all of the city of Calgary
Radon about average around Thorncliffe: 8.1% over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · Shared with the rest of the Calgary Health Region: radon tests
Near the middle for radon: Thorncliffe’s area 8.1%, the typical Canadian town 6.6%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Radon around Thorncliffe is ordinary for towns in Alberta: 8.1%, beside a median of 7.5%.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
26% of Canada’s 2,611 towns have more homes over 200 Bq/m³ than Thorncliffe’s 5–10% band, which holds 37%.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
One home in Thorncliffe can be high while next door is low; a three-month test settles it.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Thorncliffe
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Thorncliffe; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
Smoke and fire warnings for Thorncliffe come through Environment Canada and Alert Ready; the fire map is CWFIS’s.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Thorncliffe’s neighbours compare on hazards
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thorncliffe | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Huntington Hills 13,184 · 1.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Highland Park 4,908 · 1.8 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Mount Pleasant 9,224 · 2.7 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Beddington Heights 11,333 · 2.9 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
| Charleswood 5,642 · 3.0 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | None listed |
| Tuxedo Park 4,082 · 3.2 km | Low | $0.023 | 8.1% | Yes |
None of the places around has more fire nearby than Thorncliffe (low); Huntington Hills comes closest (low).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Thorncliffe faces
What to do about the hazards Thorncliffe faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Check the address on the flood map.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Thorncliffe’s figure is its subdivision’s.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. Flood studies cover areas of every size, which is why the page lists them for Thorncliffe without grading them.
- Radon is a survey. Radon figures pool the survey’s home tests by area: postal areas once their boundaries arrive, the 2007 health region around Thorncliffe until then.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Thorncliffe’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Thorncliffe
How is Thorncliffe’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Thorncliffe grades B+ for hazard risk, from earthquakes and radon, with wildfire counted only where it lowers the grade.
Is Thorncliffe at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 0% of the land around Thorncliffe since 1986 (last in 2014); at low, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Does Thorncliffe flood?
A flood study covers Thorncliffe on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory; open the owner’s map to check a street, since flood isn’t graded.
How big is the earthquake risk in Thorncliffe?
Expected earthquake damage in Thorncliffe comes to $0.023 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Thorncliffe?
Around Thorncliffe, 86 survey homes were tested and 8.1% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).