A warm February led to increased snowmelt and runoff in the Missouri River Basin above Sioux City, Iowa.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says February runoff was 161% of average (1.8 million acre-feet), with above average runoff in every reach except Sioux City, which was near average. However, the updated 2024 calendar year runoff forecast for the basin continues to be below average.
John Remus, chief of the Corps’ Missouri River Basin Water Management Division, says despite the increased runoff in February and improved soil moisture conditions, he expects 2024 runoff to remain below average. He says the much warmer-than-normal temperatures led to an early melt of the lower-than-average plains snow. In addition, mountain snowpack is lower than average, resulting in the low annual runoff forecast.
The 2024 calendar year runoff forecast above Sioux City is 66% of average (17.0 MAF). The runoff forecast is based on current soil moisture conditions, plains snowpack, mountain snowpack and long-term precipitation and temperature outlooks.
Mountain snowpack in the upper Missouri River Basin is accumulating at below average rates. The plains snowpack, which typically melts from mid-February into April, is almost nonexistent in the Basin.
The six mainstem power plants generated 467 million kWh of electricity in February, down from the typical energy generation during February which is 618 million kWh. Forecast generation for 2024 is 8.3 billion kWh compared to the long-term average of 9.4 billion kWh.
The Northwestern Division, Missouri River Basin Water Management Division will host its annual spring public meetings the last week of March. The meeting in Fort Pierre will be March 27.
To view the detailed three-week release forecast for the mainstem dams, go to http://go.usa.gov/xVgWr.
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