Wisconsin River Report

Wisconsin River Report

May 1, 2003

Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company

2301 North Third Street

Wausau, WI 54403

For more information contact Sam Morgan

Phone: 715.848.2976, ex 301

Email: morgan@wvic.com

Warm, Dry Week Slows River Flows

River flows in the Wisconsin River Basin dropped quickly this week as warmer temperatures and clear skies returned to the area according to Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company of Wausau. Weekly average temperatures of 45 degrees in the north, 51 degrees in the central valley, and 53 degrees in the southern valley were all 2 degrees above the seasonal normals. No measurable rainfall was reported in the northern basin from Tomahawk north to the Upper Peninsula. A light rain on Wednesday produced only 0.02 inch of rain the central basin from Tomahawk south to Wisconsin Rapids. Some locations in the far south saw over an inch of rain on Wednesday when a storm front skimmed the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

The flow of the Wisconsin River at Merrill dropped from its peak of 12,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) last week to 3,000 cfs by the end of this week because of the drier conditions. Similar drops were reported at other locations as the flow at Rothschild dropped from 27,000 cfs to 5,000 cfs and the Wisconsin Rapids flow dropped from 35,000 cfs to 7,000 cfs.

Storage in the northern reservoir system rose 5% last week and now stands at 75% of capacity. Three of WVIC’s five major reservoirs are now full; Rice (Nokomis), Spirit, and Eau Pleine. The Rainbow Reservoir is 2.5 feet below full and rising about 0.2 foot per day. At this rate Rainbow will be about 2.0 feet below full on the opening day of fishing season this Saturday. The Willow Reservoir is still 3.5 feet below full and rising at less than 0.1 foot per day. This refill rate should put Willow about 3.2 feet below full on opening day. Additional spring rains will be required to completely fill Rainbow and Willow.

Reservoir Water Levels			River Flow			Precipitation
Location	Feet Below Max	Weekly Change (Ft.)	Location	Weekly Average (cfs)	Monthly Normal (cfs)	Location	This Week (In.)	Annual Total (In.)	+/- Annual Normal
Rainbow	2.5	+2.1	Eagle River	N/A	618	Upper Basin	0.00	6.60	+0.30
Willow	3.5	+0.8	Tomahawk	2,549		Central Basin	0.02	6.12	-0.69
Rice	0.4	+0.3	Merrill	4,181	3,100	Temperature
Spirit	0.3	+0.2	Rothschild	6,532		Location	Ave.	Normal	+/-
Eau Pleine	0.2	+0.3	St. Point	8,888		Willow Reservoir	47	45	+2
Reservoir Storage			Wis. Rapids	9,157	6,492	Wausau	51	49	+2
Northern	75%	+5%	Petenwell	8,684		Prairie du Chien	53	51	+2
Overall	81%	+4%	Muscoda	21,592	12,353

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