Missouri River managers turn attention from flood to drought
RANDY DOCKENDORF, Yankton Press and Dakotan
April 12, 2021
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YANKTON, S.D. (AP) With anticipated continued drought, flooding likely won’t be an issue this year in the upper Missouri River basin, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other federal officials.
Despite recent rainfall, the Yankton region remains a combination of abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. A similar situation is found in much of the upper basin.
Reservoir inflows in the basin above Sioux City, Iowa, were well-below average in March. The updated 2021 upper basin runoff forecast is 21.3 million acre-feet (MAF), 83% of average.
Missouri River managers turn attention from flood to drought
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Missouri River managers turn attention from flood to drought
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(NAFB) – Reservoir inflows in the Missouri River basin above Sioux City, Iowa were well-below average in March, contributing to a below-average forecast for 2021.
John Remus, chief of the Missouri River Basin Water Management Division for the Army Corps of Engineers, says, “Due to the lack of plains snowpack in 2021, below-average mountain snowpack, and dry upper basin conditions, we expect upper basin runoff to be below average.”
The updated 2021 upper basin runoff forecast is 21.3 million acre-feet, 83 percent of average. The upper basin runoff forecast is based on soil moisture conditions, plains snowpack, mountain snowpack, and long-term precipitation and temperature outlooks. System storage is currently 56.1 million-acre-feet, at the base of the annual flood control zone.
Nebraska City News-Press
The reservoir inflows in the Missouri River basin above Sioux City, Iowa (Upper Basin) were well-below average in February.
The 2021 calendar year runoff forecast for the upper basin remains below average.
“Very cold February temperatures in the Upper Basin locked up tributaries in ice and reduced inflows to the system reservoirs,” said John Remus, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’, Missouri River Basin Water Management Division.
“Mountain snowpack continues to accumulate in the Rocky Mountains; however, plains snowpack is well-below seasonal averages and soil moisture continues to be much drier than normal,” he said.