Photo: SriMesh (Julia Adamson) · CC BY-SA 3.0Meadow Lake’s hazards at a glance: a moderate wildfire record and 11% of area homes over the radon guideline
The burn rate around Meadow Lake is 0.06% a year (2.4% of the land within 25 km since 1986), a moderate band. Seismic risk runs low: $0.004 of expected damage per $1,000 of buildings a year, the typical town $0.030. Meadow Lake grades A− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Meadow Lake’s hazards
For Meadow Lake, from NRCan’s seismic model, Health Canada’s radon survey, the national burned-area record and the flood map inventory.
What Meadow Lake faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Meadow Lake grades A− for hazard risk
Two inputs always count for Meadow Lake, earthquakes and radon; the third, wildfire, counts only against a town.
Its place: #54 of 104 in Saskatchewan and #632 of 2,589 Canadian towns.
How sure: Earthquake losses are a model’s expectation over many years, not a forecast for any one. The burned-area record misses fires under about 10 ha and most grass and farm fires.
Fire reaches the land around Meadow Lake: 0% within 5 km, 2.4% within 25 km
Past fire around Meadow Lake’s homes, from the national burned-area record, with the fuel within 5 km.
Moderate: the land around Meadow Lake burns at 0.06% a year, where the typical Canadian town sees 0.000%.
Nothing inside 5 km of Meadow Lake’s homes has burned since 1986, and the nearest scar is 10 km off.
Forest fuel rises from 0.2% within 5 km of Meadow Lake to 14% within 25 km: the fuel lies away from homes.
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 Saskatchewan · highest of 104
At 0.06% a year, Meadow Lake is near the top in Saskatchewan: 8th of 104, behind La Loche (1.94%).
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.
Meadow Lake is in the moderate band, which holds 5.4% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 2.1% rank higher.
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.
No flood study is listed for Meadow Lake
What Canada’s Flood Map Inventory lists for Meadow Lake: who studied flooding and where to see their maps.
The inventory has nothing for Meadow Lake, but a local or conservation-authority map may still exist.
Towns with a flood study on file
Mapping in Saskatchewan reaches 55% of towns, below the 58% across Canada, and not Meadow Lake.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood studies don’t enter the grade; they are listed so you can open the official map for Meadow Lake.
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.”
Little shaking expected in Meadow Lake: $0.004 a year per $1,000
Expected yearly building losses from earthquakes, from Natural Resources Canada’s model.
0.1 times the typical $0.030: Meadow Lake’s $0.004 is low for Canada.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
At $0.004, Meadow Lake is below the typical town in Saskatchewan ($0.006); Weyburn is highest at $0.033.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
At the bottom of Canada’s range, Meadow Lake has 98% of the 2,611 towns above it.
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).
For Meadow Lake the model prices shaking damage to buildings, nothing more.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
11% of homes tested around Meadow Lake are over the radon guideline
Long-term radon tests in homes across the survey area, against Health Canada’s guideline. · Area-wide: radon tests, counted over the Prairie North RHA
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Meadow Lake’s area has 11%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Meadow Lake’s area, at 11%, is close to the median in Saskatchewan (9.1%).
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
The 10–20% band holds 22% of Canada’s 2,611 towns, Meadow Lake among them; 4.6% rank above.
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.
Neighbouring homes in Meadow Lake can differ a lot; only a long-term test tells you about yours.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Where to get warnings in Meadow Lake
Alerts for Meadow Lake come from Environment and Climate Change Canada and, for emergencies, Alert Ready.
| 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. |
Alert Ready carries evacuation orders for Meadow Lake to phones; CWFIS shows the day’s fire danger.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
How Meadow Lake’s neighbours compare on hazards
Wildfire band, earthquake risk, radon and flood studies for each place nearby.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meadow Lake | Moderate | $0.004 | 11% | None listed |
| Meadow Lake No. 588 2,712 · 17 km | Moderate | $0.004 | 11% | None listed |
Meadow Lake No. 588 burns a little more than Meadow Lake, in the same moderate band (moderate here).
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Meadow Lake faces
What to do about the hazards Meadow Lake faces, and what to ask before you buy.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- 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.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- How close is the forest edge?
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Radon is a survey. About 14,000 homes were tested across Canada in 2009–2011, and the share over the guideline for Meadow Lake is its health region’s, the survey’s design unit.
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. NRCan’s inventory says where flood mapping exists, not where water goes; the map’s owner is the authority for Meadow Lake.
- Earthquakes are modelled. The earthquake figure is an expected loss, not a forecast, worked out by NRCan for each census subdivision, Meadow Lake’s included.
- Wildfire counts one way. Burned land within 25 km of where people live, averaged over 1986–2025 and checked for fuel near homes, is the measure; it looks back, not ahead, and only ever counts against Meadow Lake.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Meadow Lake
How is Meadow Lake’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Meadow Lake’s Hazard risk grade is A−, built on earthquakes and radon with a one-sided wildfire input.
Is Meadow Lake at risk of wildfire?
Fire has reached 2.4% of the land around Meadow Lake since 1986 (last in 2022); at moderate, it neither helps nor hurts the grade.
Is radon a problem in Meadow Lake?
Around Meadow Lake, 103 survey homes were tested and 11% came in over 200 Bq/m³, a guide to the area, not to any one home.
How big is the earthquake risk in Meadow Lake?
In NRCan’s seismic model, Meadow Lake’s buildings lose $0.004 per $1,000 of value in an average year.
Does Meadow Lake flood?
With 0 studies on the inventory, Meadow Lake’s flood risk is unmapped nationally; check with the municipality before buying.
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).