Run-off

[dean_mt]

Sooo much water in Western Montana right now...

The Clark Fork is at 50 year high right now. And I don't think it's done. Flood warnings on the Bitterroot from Darby to Missoula - that's about 70 miles of river. The Blackfoot is cranking about 3X it's median peak flow (historically June 6ish).

This is the Bitterroot near me. I'm standing in a parking spot and beyond that sign is normally a beach and the boat launch.

Pano of the parking area.

And then there is this, it's gonna be a while:

 

[Joey Bagels]

Wow. That’s really something. We’re in a drought again here in Texas. Hurricane season begins June 1 though, so there’s that to look forward to.


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[corn fed fins]

Yep. We went from that last year to being categorized in "Extreme Drought" this year. That's weather for ya.

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[JoJer]

Idaho is seeing the same thing: The reservoirs are full and we're still getting runoff from a nearly normal snowpack. Boise river in town at 3700 cfs will raise to 4700 today. Wood river flooding in town.

 

[dharkin]

That's pretty crazy.

 

[sweetandsalt]

The Missouri at Wolf Creek is currently 13,000 CFS.

 

[dean_mt]

Sorry the photos don't work, I can't ever get the site to work... I see them!

The Clark Fork river in Missoula is flowing +40,000 cfs!!! One cubic foot of water is 7.2 gallons. Do the math.

 

[dean_mt]

I know graphs don't mean much without context, but Dan - this is the chart for the BH at Melrose. When we fish in the fall it's usually between 300-500 cfs. I think one year we were there and it was over 600 cfs and it made wading difficult. The median for today, based on 94 years of records, is 2,220. It just touched 7,000 and is climbing.

 

[dharkin]

want to try surfing this year?

btw, I can see the photos now John, insane!

 

[hambone111]

That sucks !

we have had similar issues here in Maryland .. April had torrents of rain and i had rivers tripling their average cubic water flow at times. my favorite bass river sat between 5000 and 3000 for a week because it couldnt drain. its back to normal at 600-800 now but im staring down a week of rain and thunderstorm this weekend through end of next work week. I feel like i missed the Bass spawning season this year because of water flow.

looks like we will all be praying for better Junes

 

[al_a]

The Yellowstone above Livingston is over 17,000 cfs and climbing steadily; if it keeps going up at the same rate it will be over flood stage day after tomorrow.

But I always marvel a bit at the difference between these big Western rivers and the small rivers of the Ozarks where I live half the year. Record flow on the Yellowstone is something like 36,000 cfs. Sounds impressive, right? But in the record flooding in the Ozarks last year, the North Fork of the White River, which has a normal flow of around 500 cfs, got up to an estimated 250,000 cfs! My home rivers of the Ozarks, which have normal flows of about the same 500 cfs, will reach better than 75,000 cfs in larger floods, and that's far from their record flows.

Record flood levels on the Yellowstone at Carter's Bridge are about 10 feet higher than the level at late summer normal. The Buffalo River in Arkansas, which typically gets well under 100 cfs in drought years, has had levels 70 feet above normal!

 

[Tonyfishslayer]

wow! Hope it doesn't go over the flood stage. Any Updates?

 

[dean_mt]

All of the rivers in my area at some level of flood stage. Major flood stage on the Clark Fork River above Missoula is 13', it's been at about 13.5' for a day now and rising. It's been raining pretty hard since yesterday and the new prediction is for the river to crest above 14'. That is 100 year flood.

The water cycle of rivers in the West never ceases to amaze me. I've lived with these same rivers daily for 20 years and spring run-off never ceases to amaze me. Flooding is such an interesting natural occurrence. I hesitate to call it a natural disaster. When rivers flood, they spill out of their channels and spread across the flood plain depositing nutrients onto the valley. It is not like the crust of the earth tearing open, or a tornado touching down. Floods are what create the fertile valleys that in turn allowed man to live agrarian lives. If people hadn't tried to place permanent settlements on the flood plain there would be very little disaster.

 

[mbrman]

Dang! I'm moving to Hamilton the first of June...hope it subsides by then! Good luck!

Dave

 

[mcnerney]

The Clark Fork in Missoula is set to crest at a 100 year record on Saturday.


http://missoulian.com/news/local/cl...cle_c93c65ae-fb9b-5e47-9281-1f2144eb9070.html

 

[dillon]

It is best not to call your western destination fly shop and ask them when their river will drop as they will likely be inundated with them. Nobody really knows anyway as there could still be more snow and there will likely be more heavy rains. However, by watching the reservoir levels and inflows one can get an idea of when they can start dropping the out flow on your favorite tailwater. fishery. The early season will find crowded conditions on fishable rivers. By the time some rivers drop to wadeable levels some good hatches may already have come and gone. These things make trip planning difficult, unless one plans to fish Stillwaters...