Continued dry conditions last month (April 2022) resulted in average runoff in the upper Missouri River Basin that was 51% of average (1.5 million acre-feet).
John Remus, chief of the US Army Corps of Engineers’, Missouri River Basin Water Management Division, says their updated 2022 upper Basin runoff forecast is 17.8 million acre feet, 69% of average, which, if realized, would rank as the 23rd lowest calendar year runoff volume. He says despite recent snow and rainfall events, 84% of the upper Basin continues to experience abnormally dry conditions.
The Corps anticipates the Oahe Dam reservoir will end this month at 1596 feet– up one foot from the end of April. The forecast average release rate for the month is 17,500 cubic feet per second.
Infographic credit US Army Corps of Engineers.
