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January Snowfall Above Normal in Northern Basin

 

The water content of snowfall in the northern Wisconsin River basin has totaled 0.98 inch so far in January, 0.21 inch or 14 percent above normal. The heaviest snowfall has occurred in the far northern portions of Vilas County where lake-effect storms produced seven straight days of measurable snow. Current snow depths in Vilas County range from 13 inches in St. Germain to as much as 21 inches in Presque Isle. In Oneida County snow depths range from 10 inches in Rhinelander to 14 inches in Three Lakes. Despite the surplus snowfall in January, the overall water content of the snow on the ground is still running less than 50% of normal.

Farther south, snow depths of 7 to 9 inches are common in Lincoln County, while in Marathon County the snow depths average about 6 inches. Wood and Portage Counties reported 3 to 4 inches of snow, and father south there is little or no snow cover.

            The flow of the Wisconsin River remained 20-30% below normal because of low natural flow and low reservoir storage. Both the low natural flow and low reservoir storage are direct results of the drought conditions that were experienced during the summer and fall of 2003. River flow is expected to remain well below normal for the remainder of the winter season.

Water released from WVIC’s reservoir system provided about 20 percent of the measured river flow last week. Reservoir storage dropped 2% to 37% of capacity. The winter drawdowns of the natural-lake reservoirs in the northern basin are now almost completed. The water levels in these regulated lakes will now remain near their allowable minimum levels until spring runoff occurs. The drawdowns of the five large man-made reservoirs will continue at a slow, steady rate until spring.

Air temperatures were well below normal in the northern and central basins, but slightly above normal in the southern basin last week. At the Willow Reservoir near Hazelhurst the weekly average temperature of 4 degrees was 4 degrees below the January normal thanks to three consecutive days with lows in the teens or twenties below zero. The weekly average temperature at Wausau of 8 degrees was 5 degrees below normal, but lows only dipped into the minus teens once. At Prairie du Chien in the southern basin the weekly average temperature of 19 degrees was 3 degrees above normal as overnight lows remained above zero.

 

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