Readers please note:  due to downsizing, the public relations position has been terminated effective March 31, 2003.  After that date, please contact Sam Morgan, Vice President - Operations, at the telephone number above, extension 301, for information about the Wisconsin River system.  Thank you for your interest in the Wisconsin River Report.

 

Out-like-a-lion storm roars moisture into Wisconsin River valley

 

March came in like a shivering lamb - low temperatures March 6 were minus 23 degrees at Willow reservoir in Oneida County and minus 9 degrees at Wausau - but was going out like the lion of weather lore as a storm March 27-29 deposited rain and snow on the Wisconsin River valley according to Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company (WVIC), Wausau.

 

Counting on spring precipitation to re-supply its 21 storage reservoirs, WVIC is licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to manage the headwater system for water conservation, flood control, streamflow regulation and increased hydropower generation.

 

While not the mythical Aquarius the water bearer, the storm's moisture, as rain or six inches or more of snow, would make a contribution to the cyclical recharge of the Wisconsin River basin.  Unlike its late February and early March predecessors, the National Weather Service said this early spring storm was tapping moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and had potential to produce significant amounts of precipitation.

 

Storm may make March precipitation normal

 

Depending on the final totals from the current storm and additional subsequent precipitation forecast through the end of the month, the March 27-29 storm could push monthly totals near to or over March precipitation normals.

 

 

Snowmelt and rain conserved in reservoirs

 

The relatively dry snow from winter - water content was half of normal - melted quickly in 60-70-degree temperatures since mid-March.  Interspersed light rain and cool, cloudy conditions added moisture and slowed evaporation rates.  Once break up got started on the 12,000 square mile basin, WVIC began to conserve the runoff that resulted.  After reaching a minimum of 21 percent of storage March 16, reservoirs then captured by March 23 2,654 million cubic feet of water, or the equivalent of 4,387 cubic feet per second (cfs) of flow, and storage increased 15 percent to 36 percent.

 

 

Natural flow at Merrill, flow occurring without reservoir operation, was 5,129 cfs, 277 percent of or 3,275 cfs more than, the 1,854 cfs March normal natural flow.  Flood control through storage produced a regulated flow of 2,759 cfs, 54 percent of the non-regulated natural flow.

 

All reservoirs, 16 natural-lake and five man-made, were storing water.  The three southern-most man-made reservoirs, Rice, Spirit and Eau Pleine, showed the most appreciable gains.

 

 

Lower river flow gages free of ice, providing readings, upper gages still iced in

 

In keeping with the north-to-south flow character of the 430-mile long Wisconsin, U.S. Geological Survey streamflow gages on the lower half of the basin were freed of their icy encumbrances starting March 18 and began again to provide online data.   Gages north of Wausau were still ice-effected March 27.

 

Operating gages recorded the passage of peak flows that were well below two-year flood rates.

 

 

Flow rates below reservoirs' influence were above normal

 

Where reservoirs from the Wisconsin's source at Lac Vieux Desert in Vilas County downstream to Marathon County were intercepting runoff, drainage from unregulated portions of the basin produced above normal flow rates in the river March 21-27.